Tell me, what is the difference between the following two screencaps?

Good news! Just because I have a deteriorating opinion towards AKB48 right now doesn't mean I feel the same way towards all its sister groups! In fact, I quite like SKE48 and NMB48 right now. I feel like right now both those sister groups are just getting more interesting material than their main sister group. I still don't really care for HKT48 since so far their musical output has just been bland as AKB48's, and Nogizaka46 is slowly growing on me. I will say their summer song is my favorite of the AKS summer songs so far. But let's leave them for another review, hm? Of all the sister groups though, NMB48's probably been my favorite. While yes, they've had some pretty iffy songs (-cough- Oh My God), they've also had some pretty fun songs too. They also seem to get slightly more mature content than the mostly hyperactive and cheerful SKE48, while still maintaining a nice blend of variety with their songs. Some days NMB48 gets Virginity, other days they get Kitagawa Kenji. It's quite nice seeing them with a nice blend of different concepts and styles! And I actually like all the front girls currently in NMB48 right now! I think Saynee's a great captain, Milky's a lot of fun, and Nana's nice too! It's a shame that Yui's back in AKB48 though; I like her being more at the front in NMB48! But hey, at least Ichikawa Miori's in NMB48 right now! Maybe she can add some lemon-y flavor to the group! Well, the season is summer and with it comes the obligatory summer PV that every AKS group is required to release to make the moneys! Some of you might remember that I reviewed Nagiichi, NMB48's summer song from last year. I didn't talk much about that song because I couldn't write worth shit around that time, but I thought Nagiichi was an all right song. Pretty bland but as far as summer songs go, an easy listen. So as time has gone by and I've further immersed myself in the world of idol blogging, I've come to terms with the fact that most summer songs are hopelessly bland. Why not? After all, the main focus of the summer single is clearly not the quality of the actual song but the... appeal of the accompanying PV. Bottom line, I try to keep my expectations low toward summer songs.

So does Bokura no Eureka follow the same trend of blandness?

Well... yeah. What? I might as well go ahead and get that out of the way before getting further into this song. Bokura no Eureka is a bland summer song. I actually didn't know what my opinion of this song was the first time I listened to it because I was watching the PV at the same time. I was so focused and drawn into the PV that I didn't really give the song much attention. In fact, Bokura no Eureka kind of faded into the background and was replaced by the compelling storyline in the PV. Was that because the PV was so well-done that it didn't allow me to give much focus to the song or was it simply because Bokura no Eureka is a forgettable song? I'll elaborate on the PV in a few paragraphs, but I think part of my mind registered Bokura no Eureka was a bland song when I was watching the PV. I just didn't really think about that until I sat back down, found an audio file of the song and listened solely to that. And so my diagnosis of Bokura no Eureka is a case of the usual AKS musical blandness. This is another bland song; I swear "bland" must be one of the most frequently used words on the Wonderland. Despite the blandness of Bokura no Eureka, I can't say I'm too surprised. In fact, I'm not really upset that Bokura no Eureka is a bland song; maybe because NMB48's previous A-sides have actually been interesting unlike another sister group whose name has been mentioned several times in a negative light on my blog. Yeah, on the subject of AKB48, let me clarify something: Bokura no Eureka is bland but not in the same way Sayonara Crawl is bland. Crazy, right? How can there possibly be two different types of bland AKS songs!? But yes, the key difference between Bokura no Eureka and Sayonara Crawl is that the latter is more upbeat and also more catchy. What I like about Bokura no Eureka is that it isn't insufferably bland. When I listen to it, I don't have this seething rage at how generic it sounds that I develop whenever I play Sayonara Crawl. At the moment, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing though... I will say, of the two summer songs, I prefer Bokura no Eureka over Sayonara Crawl.

Does that mean I like Bokura no Eureka? Well honestly... I... ugh, I kind of like Bokura no Eureka. HEY! Don't be getting any crazy ideas now! I still have a passionate dislike of bland songs! Just because I said I kind of like the song doesn't mean I think it's utterly amazing and it's landing on my Best A-sides of 2013 either! Like I said, what I like about Bokura no Eureka is that while it's very bland it's not upbeat, not terribly so anyways. It's been hard for me to peg what it is that makes me so irritable towards the bland AKB48 A-sides but I think it's just because they sound so peppy and cheerful. Bokura no Eureka is by no means a downbeat song or even a dark song but there's still something... wistful about the way the song sounds. I wouldn't call it nostalgic, but Bokura no Eureka just sounds a little more serious than your typical summer song. Again, it doesn't sound like a ballad or anything, but I feel like the beat is a just a little bit slower and the energy just a little bit lower. On the subject of energy, Bokura no Eureka has some pretty low energy levels, but I feel like that might have been intentional. I don't know, there's just something very soothing about listening to this song; when I listened to it this morning, it was pouring rain outside. Somehow, Bokura no Eureka was a very calming song to listen to, especially during that time. Honestly, I kind of want to know what this song was about, even though half of me knows it's probably just some generic summer song lyrics. It's a shame I can't find any translations at the moment. Overall, Bokura no Eureka gets a mixed to positive response from me. I think Nagiichi was a better song (I never would have thought I'd see myself writing that statement) but Bokura no Eureka is still an all right, albeit pretty bland song. This is definitely a nice summer song to listen to, especially if you're looking for an easy listen. Bokura no Eureka's a hell of a lot better than Sayonara Crawl, and I've heard much worse summer songs than this one. Still, I'll hold out for SKE48 and see if their summer song is the breakout song of the AKS summer PVs.

But of course, a summer song is nothing without a summer PV filled with your token bikinis and scenes of summer fun and- oh, what's that? Bokura no Eureka has none of that? This is a summer PV from an AKS group, right? Relax, there's a bikini PV for those of you looking for some idols to oggle over. For the rest of you looking for something more creative... let's sail away into Bokura no Eureka's PV.


The PV begins with AKB48, knowing that NMB48 is getting more popular than them, casting away that group's Senbatsu to a deserted island!


And despite the fact that the sand and water would have no doubt dirtied their uniforms, the girls' outfits remain spotless!


Someone care to explain the symbols under the title drop for me?


Leave it to idols to make survival look glamorous and carefree!


Goddammit, I'm Captain not Katniss, why do I have to find food!?


See? Being stranded isn't horrible! Look at how much fun they're having!


They even get to do makeup on each other! I just hope that paint isn't poisonous!


Wow! Being stranded looks like such gosh darn fun! Why the hell did that Chuck Noland fellow not enjoy it this much!?


How many days until I can dominate AKB48 and NMB48?


Damn. Not until Mariko graduates.


Foraging for food that's edible? Easy breezy. Lifting a rock though? Near impossible!


I really love this shot. There's something... majestic about it.


All right, come on, Sayanee. You WILL shoot like Legolas! Your group depends on it!


D'aw, but how could she possibly shoot cute wittle Billy Goat? Drat it wasn't some animal that was ugly!


I can't stand this! I'm sick of shells! I want McDonalds! I want the loving embrace of another guy-


But we aren't allowed to have boyfriends!


SHUT UP!


The promise of meat comes when Sayanee returns to camp... empty handed.


So what? Y'all can't eat me 'cause I'm Captain.


Not if I get to be the new Captain.


A long night of the girls trying not to imagine each other as walking drumsticks...


...when a startling revelation comes. The idols shall become VEGETARIANS!


Nah, I'm just kidding. But they do start to build an escape raft!


Ha ha, we have no idea how we built this but the plot requires this raft to WORK!


Good thing the day they set sail is unbelievably calm with no waves or undercurrents!


LAND HOOOOOOOOO!


But have our idols truly reached civilization?


Or perhaps the mere remnants of it?


Did those sons of bitches already sell our theater to those HKT48 newbs?


Well. That's an uplifting sign of life.


Yeah, can we go back to the island, Sayanee?


But wait! Perhaps not all hope is lost! Who is this mysterious figure?


NMB48 manager Kaneko Tsuyoshi? Man, I wonder where this PV's going next-


WHAT!? YOU'RE LEAVING IT ON A CLIFFHANGER!?

TO BE CONTINUED!? You put us through all that turmoil and intrigue and dare to end this PV on a cliffhanger!? How can you do such a thing!? Damn you! Ugh, I'm going to be so mad if the continuation of this PV is just some half-assed shout out that pops up in the next NMB48 PV. I don't think I've ever gotten so excited over a cliffhanger in an idol PV... the fact that there is a cliffhanger and a continuing story is enough to make me happy! But seriously, wasn't that one hell of a summer PV, guys? I think I talked about this in a review awhile back but something I have always wanted to see a summer PV have is the concept of the girls being on a deserted island. I don't know what exactly they would even do on a deserted island; I just think it would be a really cool concept. Part of the appeal for me was simply all the ways that concept could be taken; it could be fun and quirky or dark and mysterious or anywhere in-between! The fact that NMB48 got a PV focused around the girls being stuck on a deserted island had me ecstatic when I first watched the preview for Bokura no Eureka. I've been waiting two years for a summer PV like this to happen! And the execution was done beautifully! What I read was that Bokura no Eureka was based off of Jules Verne's Two Years' Vacation and after reading the Wikipedia page (because I ain't got not time to be reading the actual book), I can definitely see a lot of parallels in the basic plot. The premises of the PV and the book are near identical, although the endings are different. No mutineers in the Bokura no Eureka PV! I saw a few comparisons to Lord of the Flies from various users on the web also, but I think that's a bit of a stretch. For one thing, Bokura no Eureka is nowhere near as dark as Lord of the Flies is; in fact, the only aspect Bokura no Eureka and Lord of the Flies have in common is they both involve school children getting stranded on an island. There's a lot less anarchy, corruption, death, and mutiny in the Bokura no Eureka PV! But hey, that would have been an interesting theme to take on too! Kind of morbid, but still interesting!

Oh man, where do I even start with what I like about the PV for Bokura no Eureka? Well, one thing I love about this PV is that it's not your typical summer PV. Instead of bikinis and happy summer scenes, this PV has ragged school uniforms and survival. In the slew of summer PVs that come out every year, Bokura no Eureka stands out for many reasons, one being that it's not presented as your traditional summer PV. It shows the girls of NMB48 struggling and going through a lot of ordeals that I personally would not want to go through. There's conflict in this PV, and that conflict is interesting. When I was watching this PV, I was always wondering where it was going to go next. Were the girls going to get off the island? How were they going to? How did they even get there? Not all my questions were answered, but I kind of like having the remaining mysteries to ponder over after I finished watching this PV. I think what would have helped though was if I knew what the girls were saying in that long scene that went on after the song break. I think I might have gotten the gist of it being Miyuki losing hope then Sayanee giving an encouraging speech about teamwork and friendship and never giving up and all that cutesy idol stuff. I don't know if that's what happened in the real dialogue, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the translation turned out to be. Beyond that one scene with all the dialogue, I could still pretty much understand what was going on for a majority of the PV. I like that it shows the girls on the island doing a variety of different things from hunting to setting up camp to just wandering around the island. I really love the environment of this PV, and I think it helps that AKS has the budget to pull off a PV like this so well. The island is very pretty but also very empty and primal; the girls, wearing uniforms and not bikinis, provide for a very stark contrast, especially in that beginning shot. The environment is so lush that you want to see more of it and you want to see how the girls go about in it as well. I loved how the scenery looked so beautiful but also so desolate; it really brought the PV to life.

And then there's the ending to this PV. Oh my god, the ending. I have to ask though... was anyone else reminded of Planet of the Apes with this ending? I mean, both the PV for Bokura no Eureka and that amazing film both involve people coming across a relic of the land they used to call home. Even the shot with the tower seemed very reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty shot in that movie. I don't know, but I found the ending of Bokura no Eureka to be absolutely eerie. How I loved it. And then NMB48's manager, Kaneko Tsuyoshi appeared at the end of the PV and I just... I really want to know where this PV would go if it really was continued. I just hope that if the storyline of this PV is continued in another NMB48 PV, the explanation isn't contrived and lame. Okay, I know I shouldn't expect that much since this is an idol group but still! Just let me dream, okay!? I know that Bokura no Eureka is a good PV because when it was over, I wanted more. When a PV, let alone an idol PV, can leave me longing for the story to be continued, that's when I know that I just watched a pretty damn awesome PV. Bokura no Eureka is not only one of my favorite summer PVs I've reviewed this year but also one of my favorite PVs in general that I've reviewed this year. Everything in this PV is done right from the concept to the visuals to the story to the execution. I love that NMB48 decided to shy away from the typical happy summer bikini PV and go instead for an uplifting tale of survival in the wilderness with a strange and intriguing ending. I actually think one of the main reasons why I don't really dislike Bokura no Eureka as a song is because the PV that accompanies it is just so great that I find it hard to really dislike the song. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I found no faults with Bokura no Eureka's PV. I think the pacing was great along with the direction and I look forward to seeing how this PV is continued. If you're a fan of well-done, interesting summer PVs, I would highly recommend checking this one out; what Bokura no Eureka lacks in fanservice, it makes up for in a compelling storyline and interesting ideas.


Collectively, Bokura no Eureka gets four out of five apples from me. If I were ranking the song and PV individually, the song would get three and the PV would get five, but together, this is what Bokura no Eureka averages to. While the song is your typical AKS summer song, the PV for Bokura no Eureka is amazing. I loved the concept and I love how well it was executed. Again, one of if not the best summer PV of 2013 for me.

So guys... how about I review something from a group I've never reviewed before? That sounds fun, right? Of course it does! Everyone loves new things! So let's talk about 9nine!


Is it just me, or does Evolution No. 9 sound like some brand of perfume? Speaking of perfume, the only reason that I've even heard of this idol group is because A-chan's sister, Nishiwaki Sayaka, is in it! Small world, huh? Beyond that interesting little tidbit, I've never really looked into 9nine as a group; I know at one time they had nine members but their numbers have shortened down to five. Personally, I don't mind; I like smaller idol groups anyways! I also know that they've been around for a pretty decent amount of time, but they're also one of the less recognized idol groups in the pool of idol groups clamoring for success right now. Honestly, 9nine has never stood out to me; I'm sure they're a fine group and all, but I've never taken a close look at their material. Okay, there's like one song I really enjoy by 9nine but other than that one song, I've never really felt the urge to review anything by them. I probably should since I don't see them getting a lot of attention in the blogsphere but what can I say? I've had other idol groups that I've been more occupied with. But after listening to their latest single on a whim and realizing that hey, I could actually make a single review out of this, I have finally decided to give 9nine some attention. Sure, I only recognize one member of the group, but nevertheless, I shall proceed to review this group to the best of my ability! And who knows? Maybe like Perfume, this group will find a special place in my heart. But probably not since they're both two very different groups... still, let us go into this review.

Covers/Outfits

So something I've noticed about 9nine is that they get some pretty nice looking album/single covers and outfits. Like I would legitimately consider wearing some of the clothes the girls in 9nine get to wear. I haven't seen them wearing really shitty costumes, but then again, I'm not reviewing a Hello! Project group so perhaps that's why. So the outfits for Evolution No. 9 follow that same trend of looking very nice and stylish, and I like them! But I did notice that they looked a little bit similar to another group whom I write about extensively. Can you guess? They start with a P and end in "erfume." Yeah, maybe it's because I'm a Perfume fan, but is anyone else getting huge GAME vibes from the outfits on the covers? I mean, look closely at bothoutfits. Does anyone else see it? Maybe it's just the styling in some parts of each group's outfits... But hey, if you're gonna imitate an outfit, Perfume's are great to imitate! I will say though, I love the tights the girls of 9nine are wearing. I love how the stripes are aligned at different positions; it just makes for a very interesting image! I'd totally buy those tights if I could find them, but I know you guys don't want to hear about Nia's Shopping List so what else stands out about the covers for Evolution No. 9? Beyond the outfits, the covers are actually pretty simplistic with a white background and black text. Each cover shows the girls positioned differently with their poses slightly altered, and a briefcase with the number 9 is shown in the Regular and Limited B editions of the single. Beyond that, there isn't much that stands out with the covers beyond those kickass outfits. But then again, I think that works! As I always say, simplicity is not a bad thing. After all, the minimalistic background allows the viewer to focus more on the outfits and the girls themselves! And like I said, the styling for Evolution No. 9 is very cool and very sleek. The outfits alone for this single were enough to get me interested; I didn't even know what the songs sounded like until I downloaded the single. But hey, a good single is more than just nice looking covers! How do the actual songs hold up anyways?

Evolution No. 9

Well, this is the A-side that compelled me to review something by 9nine so naturally I must think it's a pretty awesome song, right? Something interesting that I didn't find out until I started writing this review was that Evolution No. 9 is actually the opening theme for a drama that Ono Erena is in! Sure, I don't really follow Ono Erena but I still thought that was pretty interesting! I've noticed that 9nine has a lot of songs that have been used as openings, particularly some anime called Star Driver. I counted at least two or three songs that had been used in that anime, but I digress. How does Evolution No. 9 hold up then? Well, I like this song! I think the opening makes for a great hook and the rest of the song keeps me listening! It's definitely one of the more mature idol sons out there, but I have a tendency to lean towards more mature-sounding idol music. I don't know why, but that love for mature idol music makes me enjoy listening to Evolution No. 9 a lot! I like the guitar riffs in the song too, especially during the parts where the girls aren't singing! I like the vocals too! The girls of 9nine clearly aren't remarkable singers but they can all carry a tune and hey, I finally got to hear what A-chan's sister sounds like! She seemed to have a decent amount of solos which was nice! There's a part between the second and final chorus when the song switches to this... choral type of singing. Depending on my mood, the change either sounds really neat and ethereal or really jarring and weird but hey, I can give that little bridge brownie points for trying something different! Even if it felt really random and out of place. In fact, how is it that choir-singing never seems to work in idol music? It always sounds really off. But I'm starting to nitpick and overall, I really do like listening to Evolution No. 9. I like that it has darker and more mature sound while still maintaining a nice level of energy, and I think the arrangement is pretty solid.

The PV for Evolution No. 9 fits the song nicely. It carries over the same tone the song had and also provides an entertaining plotline and sleek visuals. In fact, you know what this PV reminded me of? Perfume again! Funny how I keep getting Perfume vibes from a group with a member that's related to one of the members of Perfume! Yeah, the PV for Evolution No. 9 reminded a lot of the PV for Laser Beam. Both feature the girls of each group wandering around barren buildings in stylish and elegant black outfits and the plots of each PV revolve around a briefcase. Of course, in Laser Beam, the girls of Perfume are simply trying to find the briefcase; in Evolution No. 9, the girls of 9nine are trying to avoid people who want the brief case. Not to mention the PV for Evolution No. 9 doesn't have anyone randomly transforming into a polar bear or apples or giant laser beams. And the briefcase in Evolution No. 9 doesn't contain a music box; it simply transports the girls to another dimension. Maybe. That part of the PV wasn't very clearly explained. But still, it's a pretty well-done PV, especially for an idol group! I like that there are a lot of shots in the PV revolving around the cat-and-mouse chase between the girls and the mysterious super-evil secret agents that are pursuing them. Yeah, you get your standard dance shot and close-up but they aren't shown quite as much. Of course, I liked the dance shot too; the set went with the rest of the PV nicely, and the dance itself highlighted the song! When watching the PV, I realized that Evolution No. 9 is a very... dance-able song, the chorus in particular. Beyond the dance and the plotline, there isn't much else I can say about the PV for Evolution No. 9, although if I wanted to do a PV review, I probably could have squeezed out enough material. Still, I'm glad I'm doing a single review over a PV review, because I do want to talk about the other two B-sides on Evolution No. 9. For now, the PV for the title track is nicely done and has good pacing, good lighting, good imagery, just all around goodness!



I will bestow upon Evolution No. 9 four and half out of five apples! Is it the best song I've ever heard? No, but it caught my attention enough that I wanted to review it! It's a song with very cool vibes and holds up very strongly as an A-side!

Just a Koi

The first of two B-sides on Evolution No. 9 is Just a Koi which (very awkwardly) translates into Just a Love! Despite the rather odd-sounding title, I really liked this B-side, and of the two on this single, it's definitely my favorite! Just a Koi actually sounds like a song Tokyo Girls' Style would do to my ears, especially in the "Ah" bits of the song; they took me back to W.M.A.D. Of course, this song sounds a lot less nineties than TGS's songs and isn't quite as funky. Still, I liked this B-side! And hey, I freaking love Tokyo Girls' Style so to hear another idol group have a song that sounds like their style is right up my alley! Just a Koi has a nice blend of synths and other sound effects that really make the song stand out, along with the vocal editing. It does carry that same mature vibe Evolution No. 9 had, but Just a Koi is a little bit more fun, and a great track to dance to! If you like dancing, that is. Both songs have pretty close energy levels, and I like that Just a Koi isn't some huge mood whiplash song. The song still stands out on its own, but it compliments Evolution No. 9 nicely, which is what I think a B-side should do. What I also love about Just a Koi is that it's a really catchy song; like the only part of the song that doesn't get stuck in my head is the chorus. Just a Koi was stuck in my head after the first few times I listened to it, not that I really minded. Unlike some B-sides like Communication by Perfume this song is catchy in a good way! Another element of Just a Koi I should acknowledge is... the Engrish. Yep, the dastardly Engrish strikes again! Yep, there are a couple random English phrases thrown around and they sound just about as cohesive as you'd expect from Japanese idol music. Okay, in perspective, the English bits aren't that bad, just a little odd sounding; believe me, I've heard much worse. Then again, I've been surrounded by so much Engrish for such awhile now that I'm not sure what constitutes as "good" English in foreign-language songs are... Anyways, the Engrish didn't bother me and most certainly didn't take away my enjoyment of the song! I think Just a Koi was a great B-side for Evolution No. 9!



So like the A-side, I will also give Just a Koi four and a half out of five apples! Wow! Two good songs on the first 9nine single I've reviewed so far! I wonder if the second B-side will keep the good streak going, hrm? Well, let's take a look and see...

Anemone mo ne

So the next B-side has a title centered around... anemone? The poisonous ocean creature? Eh... yeah. Gee, I wonder if this song is about anemones? I will come up front and say that Anemone mo ne is my least favorite song on Evolution No. 9. It's a cute song and all, but it just doesn't work on this single. So Anemone mo ne is without a doubt the safest of the three songs on this single, with a lighter and happier melody along with chanting, a formulaic vocal arrangement, and a major tempo. If this song were on another single, then I might like it a bit better, but on Evolution No. 9, Anemone mo ne doesn't work as a B-side. A big part of why I'm not a huge fan of this song is probably because the first two songs on this single are just so cool. You've got Evolution No. 9, the cool A-side, and Just a Koi, the equally cool B-side and then... this song. Hearing Anemone mo ne after those two very strong, very mature-sounding songs is a huge mood whiplash, and only makes the song sound extremely childish. On a different, more upbeat single, Anemone mo ne might have blended better, but on Evolution No. 9, I feel like Just a Koi could have stood alone as a B-side. Anemone mo ne feels extremely unnecessary. Is it a bad song? No, I've heard much worse, but I've also heard much better as well. I will admit, I feel like this might have been a good song... for another group. I feel like a group like Momoiro Clover Z would be able to pull off this song really well, but for a group like 9nine, Anemone mo ne falls very, very flat. A big part of why Anemone mo ne is so unappealing to my ears is the lack of energy coming from the girls themselves. If the energy had been upped, this might have at least been a more memorable song. But no, this B-side just... plays. And then it's over. Thankfully, Anemone mo ne is a pretty short song, clocking in at roughly three minutes. So yeah, I guess that's a plus? I don't know, I really think this B-side dragged down Evolution No. 9, especially in terms of style and tone. I'd recommend skipping this B-side unless you're die-hard happy idol music fan.



Because I'm feeling benevolent, I'll give Anemone mo ne three out of five apples. It's an all right song, just not a song I would have put on Evolution No. 9. Again, if you're looking for a happier and sweeter-sounding song, you might want to give this B-side a listen but for me, I can do without it.

The Verdict

So that's what 9nine's music sounds like, huh? All right, I'm joking; I know generalizing an entire group's music based on one single is incredibly stupid. But still, I'm glad that I picked Evolution No. 9 to be the first 9nine-related material I review. For the most part, I found this to be a pretty strong single. The A-side is more mature-sounding fare which is hugely appealing to my tastes and I thought it had a nice riff and a good amount of energy. The accompanying music video matched with the song nicely, and I liked the sleeker and more polished visuals of the PV. Just a Koi carries over those mature vibes and as a B-side, it holds up pretty well on its own, enough that it could even stand on its own as an A-side. What Evolution No. 9 lacks in catchiness, Just a Koi makes up for, and as I said before, the two songs compliment each other nicely. They have similar tones but also enough differences that each song feels distinct, as if one adds on to the other. And then there's Anemone mo ne, which you all know I thought was pretty much the only fault I really had with Evolution No. 9. I found the second B-side I found to be unnecessary due to its whiplash in tone from the other two songs. That song deviates so harshly from the darker sounds of the first two songs on Evolution No. 9 that I wish it simply hadn't been included on the single. Without Anemone mo ne, I would say that Evolution No. 9 is overall a very strong single, but I simply can't ignore the fact that it is included on the single. So my verdict is check out the A-side and Just a Koi and skip Anemone mo ne. It doesn't bring anything interesting to the table and only takes away from the mature vibes of the single. For the most part though, I enjoyed listening to Evolution No. 9! It was about time I reviewed something from the group with A-chan's sister in it, and I think I picked a pretty good single to review! While that last B-side is iffy at best, I like the first two songs on this single. I don't know what 9nine plans on releasing next, but I'll definitely keep my eyes peeled and see if whatever they do next is worth reviewing or not. For now, Evolution No. 9 as a whole single gets...


...four out of five apples! See? That's still a pretty good ranking! Evolution No. 9 and Just a Koi are pretty awesome songs, but I'm forgetting about Anemone mo ne as soon as I publish this review! So 9nine fans, any other good songs you'd recommend checking out?

If you had asked me six months ago whether or not I thought Sashihara Rino was going to rank #1 in the 5th Senbatsu Election, I would have laughed until I was choking for air.

In fact, I recall writing in my year-end megapost for 2012 how I doubted Sasshi would ever have a chance for a huge push again. Let's see, what wording did I use again? "The transfer wrecked any chances for Sasshi to be the new center of AKB48 after Maeda Atsuko's graduation and she hasn't had the same attention or pushing ever since." In fact, I think I spent most of the tail-end of 2012 thinking that Sasshi's career as an idol was pretty screwed over. Yeah, looking back, I can't get over how fantastically ironic my prediction for Sasshi's future in 2013 would be. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time I was ridiculously off about a prediction! When the preliminary results for the election came out this year, I think everyone was a little taken aback at Sasshi's jump to #1. However, there wasn't full-on panic (not yet at least) since after all, a lot can change from prelims to the actual results. When I first saw the prelims, I too was surprised that Sasshi ranked #1, especially since I would have thought she'd be going down this year. And while I was hopeful that someone besides Yuko/Mayuyu/Paruru would have a chance at being center, I also tried to remain rational. It was only the first day and I've been through enough Senbatsu elections to know that the final results can and will change from the first day. I was mostly certain that Oshima Yuko would easily get #1 as always, but Sasshi's vote count did plant a little seed of hope in me that the 5th Senbatsu Election might be different this year. And here we are with Sasshi firmly planted at #1 and more than 10,000 votes ahead of Yuko. Of course, Sasshi's ranking wasn't the only surprise of this year's election, but we'll get to those in a couple paragraphs. I just can't believe that Sasshi really did it. From #9 to #4 to #1... it's quite surreal to see her ranked at the top! I honestly thought that Mayuyu or Yuko had a better chance of ranking #1! But nope, Sasshi, the wotagei, scandal-inflicted, transferred idol got it! Of course, everyone was reeling over the results, with fan reactions ranging from hyperactive joy to fire-burning rage and everything in-between!

But honestly... I think Sashihara Rino is what AKB48 needs as a center.

And no, I'm not saying that as a fan of Sasshi. She's not even my favorite AKS member. Granted, I've always kind of liked her, but nowhere near compared to say Akimoto Sayaka or Minegishi Minami. After Sasshi's scandal, my interest in her kind of waned since I didn't see much of a point in following an idol who was clearly getting screwed over by a nonsensical dating scandal that was probably blown way out of proportion. Still, as the year went on and AKB48's songs got suckier, I did start to lament that the scandal happened to her. After all, who knows what AKB48 would have looked like had Sasshi not been transferred to HKT48. But alas, she did, and suddenly, Sasshi's push to the front of AKB48 just... stopped. Sure, she was still in AKB48's Senbatsu, but it was like she'd taken two steps back. Yet I still couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Sasshi had been pushed as center instead of Mayuyu or Paruru. Most of all, I wondered how AKB48's music would have been affected had Sasshi had been pushed; would it have been better? I've made it clear as filtered water that I have been in a musical rut with AKB48 since Gingham Check; I think all of their A-sides have been incredibly bland and unoriginal. They've been lacking that... spark that was usually there when Acchan was in AKB48. I don't know if it's because Acchan graduated or AKS is too scared to do anything too different for fear that it won't make money or Aki-P got abducted by aliens and replaced with a robot double but whatever it is, I just haven't been into AKB48's music the way I used to be. So even though I know it might be huge shot in the dark but... I think AKB48 needs a new center, and I feel like Sasshi can be that new center. Not Yuko, not Mayuyu, not Paruru, but someone who has never, ever been center before: Sasshi. I don't know if her being center will even affect the music output at all, but part of me hopes that maybe, just maybe she will.

Or maybe I'm being idealistic again. I don't know! Right now all I know is that I am extremely happy and extremely that Sashihara Rino is going to be center for at least one AKB48 single! And you know what's great about it? The fact that so many fans wanted her to be center, enough to boost her rank to number 1! I think it's amazing that despite the scandal and the transfer, Sasshi somehow managed to turn things around and make the best of her situation. In a weird way... I think that "scandal" (if you can even call it that) helped Sasshi out in the long run. And yeah, yeah, I know that management probably helped a lot too by not firing Sasshi and appointing her as manager of HKT48, but I still think it's amazing that Sasshi bounced back so fantastically. It gives me hope that maybe someday Miichan can bounce back from her scandal too... but that's a topic for another post. What makes me most excited about Sasshi as center of AKB48's next single is the sheer unpredictability it'll bring to the table. In other words... what the hell is the 32nd single going to sound like? A quirky and weird song to match Sasshi's quirky and weird personality? An ode to wotadom and idols? A insipid bland song that sounds like all the other A-sides AKB48's been getting lately? Yeah, I hope it's not that one, but I'm still going to keep it in mind as we get closer to details being revealed for the 32nd single. I don't know, right now I feel like there are so many possibilities that can happen with Sasshi as center over say, Paruru or Mayuyu. I don't know what those possibilities entail, but I hope it's something good. And I hope that Sasshi can live up to the position that's been given to her! Well, I figure she'll be able to but still! What I like about Sasshi is the fact that she just seems to really genuinely love being an idol along with her love for idols in general. She's open about her love for idols such as Morning Musume, and it's very... refreshing.


Of course, the Senbatsu election hasn't completely brought rainbows and flowers. It also brought forth a graduation announcement, and a big one too. Most of you probably know by now, but when 1st Generation member Shinoda Mariko was announced as 5th, during her speech, she announced her graduation. And honestly, when I woke up the next morning and found out, I think my stomach dropped. I literally did not see this coming. Like if you'd asked me who I thought was going to graduate next in AKB48, Mariko would have been far, far down the list. Hell, I even made a joke in one of my latest PV reviews about Mariko never graduating from AKB48! I mean... wow. I know it's been over a week since the Senbatsu election, but I still haven't gotten over the fact that Mariko will be gone from AKB48 in just over a month, along with Tomochin and Sayaka... Yeah, the graduation dates for those three idols were all announced. Mariko will be graduating on July 21st, Sayaka on August 22nd, and Tomochin on August 25th. Obviously, Sayaka's graduation is the one I'm dreading the most, but I can't say I'm looking forward to Mariko's either. I guess she has had a long, glorious run in AKB48, and she is getting older. There are a lot of other professions Mariko may want to take on, and if she wants to pursue something else instead of AKB48... then the best of luck to her! Still, I can imagine July and August are going to be very, very painful months for many an AKB48 fan. But hey, at least Maeda Atsuko's appearing at one of AKB48's concerts! Yep, AKS just can't seem to let her go, can they? I have nothing against Acchan, but I'd prefer her to keep doing her own think outside of AKB48. Really the only reason I'm a little excited about Acchan's appearance is the fact that a new unit will also be announced on the same day. About time too! All the current sub-units are pretty much kaput what with all the graduations... Well, many changes are a-coming to AKB48. Whether they're be for better or worse, only time will tell. Personally, I hope they're for the better; I'd very much like to get out of the rut I've been in with AKB48.

For now, let's take a quickie look at just who makes up this year's elected Senbatsu this year!

16. Suda Akari - Oh, so the bottom of the Senbatsu is a random SKE48 chick whom I have no idea about? Oh goody! It's a repeat of the Janken Senbatsu all over again! I'll be honest, I don't follow SKE48 that much an can only count the number of members I know and recognize on on hand. As you may have deduced, Suda Akari is not one of members I am familiar with! Well, I'm a little more familiar with her now! I looked her up on the Stage 48 Wiki and apparently, she's been regularly featured in SKE48's Senbatsu since 1!2!3!4! Yoroshiku! So I guess she must be pretty popular to rank so high in the Senbatsu Election. Well, Akari, I may know nothing about you but congrats on going from #29 to #16!

15. Watanabe Miyuki - Does anyone else find it kind of hilarious that both Milky and Sayanee climbed at the same rate and Milky landed one spot behind Sayanee just like last year's election? Anyone? Well, the faces of NMB48 said that their goal was to make it into Senbatsu for this year's election and by golly, they did it! It probably helps that Milky's in concurrency with Team B and Sayanee's captain of Team N and just... Sayanee in general. I'll admit, Milky's kind grown on me in the past year and I think she's a very charming an entertaining idol, even if her schtick feels a tad bit forced at times. It's still awesome that she was able to climb out of Undergirls and break into the lower part of Senbatsu though!

14. Yamamoto Sayaka - How appropriate for the captain of Team N to rank in the Senbatsu this year! Last year, Sayanee was one of the girls that I really wanted in Senbatsu (and I thought she'd get in) but like Milky, she just barely missed it. Still, Sayanee persevered on in both her team and in her singles with AKB48 and it looks like her hard work paid off! Sayanee's always been one of my favorite captains from any of the AKS groups; the only captain who trumps her for me is Takamina! Then again, it is Takamina so yeah... I like that so many team captains got into Senbatsu. Now if only Umeda Ayaka had been able to rank just a little bit higher... not that I'm mad about her (very high) position in Undergirls either!

13. Yokoyama Yui - Ah, what's a Yokoyama Yui Senbatsu speech without copious amounts of tears and emotion from Yui herself? I will say though I don't think the speech from this year was quite as blubbering and teary as the past two elections. Still, Yui was as grateful as always for her ranking and it's strangely heartwarming to see her get so emotional over her ranking! I've always liked Yui so I think it's great that she's climbed a little bit in ranking this year, even if it isn't a terribly high climb! I've always found it odd that despite the huge push she gets, her ranking never gets super high but it's still great that she's going up a little bit every year with each Senbatsu Election!

12. Shimazaki Haruka - I have to admit, I wasn't that surprised that Paruru ranked somewhat low in the Senbatsu despite a colossal push from management. You know how I said in some AKB48 review several posts back how Yokoyama Yui had gotten the same promotion Paruru had but it didn't have a huge effect on her position in the Senbatsu Election? I was kind of thinking that Paruru's rank would parallel Yui's and hey, I was right! But can we all talk about the look on Paruru's face!? The girl looked like she was gonna cut someone! I don't think I've ever seen Paruru look so... emotional! It was a little scary! Still, from #23 to #12 is still an impressive achievement!


Right now, I'm really looking forward to this year's Senbatsu single. I don't know if it's because I'm still high off the results of the election, but I just feel like this year's song is going to be something new and different! And I really hope that's the case! For the first time, I'm really hoping that the A-side produced this year is something that isn't bland. Okay, I've been saying that same thing for the past few singles from AKB48, but this time, I really feel like there's something to hope for. Sasshi has never been a center for AKB48, and I think that's what the group needs right now. Not Yuko, not Paruru, not even Mayuyu but a completely new person to be center. After all, Aki-P said that he writes his songs around the center, so hopefully it'll be a song to reflect the best parts of Sasshi's personality. Like her love for idols, the wota side of her, her ability to adapt to new situations and make the best out of things... there are so many directions that this single could go, and I'm so excited to see what happens. I'm kind of thinking that Sasshi's song will be the kind of song that's an ode to idols and wotadom, but then again, Sasshi's song could be a lot of things! As long as it's not Soredemo Suki da yo. I can't stand that song. I guess I'm a little nervous too that I'm raising the bar too high and the song's going to suck. Yeah, I really hope that doesn't happen. Part of me doesn't want to get too hopeful in case Aki-P decides to whip out another half-assed, bland piece of shit, but then another part of me feels like there are now possibilities. New ones that will take AKB48 to places it's never been before! Well okay, maybe not that dramatic of possibilities but still! So guys, now that the election hype is dying down, are there any upsets you had with this years Senbatsu Election? Any surprises? I didn't exactly give much attention the the Future/Next/Undergirls so any happy surprises or upsets with them? Are you looking forward to the next single as much as I am or hiding under a rock and waiting until it's over and done? Feel free to comment!

Hmmm... which PV review to take on first... the happy-go-lucky wackfest that is Yattaruchan or the melancholic and gritty darkness of DiE. Eh, I'm not in the mood to write a serious review at the moment... Yattaruchan it is!


Oh, and let me take this moment to let all you lovely people who read my posts on the Wonderland that my Hello! Project PV reviews are going to come a little bit later than they have in the past. And no, it's not just because I'm being a lazy shit (though I have been highly lazy lately), it's mainly because of those goddamn subtitles that are slapped onto all H!P PVs released on each group's official Youtube channel. I'm sorry, but I refuse to screencap PVs with those annoying, poorly translated subtitles getting in the way. Nonetheless, there are still H!P PVs that I will review... it's just going to take me longer to get the reviews out. Mainly because I'll have to wait until the PV is re-released under another domain such as Space Shower or M-ON!  and the PV is leaked into a DL link that I can download. Or until Jpopsuki.tv comes back up but who knows when that's going to happen. In short, finding suitable H!P PVs to screencap is going to be a lot more complicated and tedious from now on, but I will not let these dastardly subtitles hinder me from doing so! But I will say that the time in which I release PV reviews for H!P media from now on is going to be somewhat.. later. Well okay, later than usual because I always procrastinate when it comes to writing reviews but you get what I mean! For instance, C-ute's latest PVs for Kanashiki Amefuri and Adam to Eve no Dilemma are both on my mental list to review, but I won't be able to release either review until the PVs are leaked under a different, subtitles-less domain? Kapeesh? That being said, let's talk about S/mileage.

Some of you might not be aware of this, but I've been in somewhat of a rut with S/mileage lately. Well, all right, I've been in a rut with S/mileage for a long time now, but only now have I finally started to acknowledge it. Unlike most ruts, in which I can't really specify a certain date in which said rut began, I can pretty clearly pinpoint when my rut with S/mileage began to form. Ogawa Saki's graduation. Back in 2011, a lot of you probably remember the graduations of Ogawa Saki and Maeda Yuuka rocking the idolsphere, along with the addition of new members to S/mileage. Some fans were heatedly against the lineup changes to a group that had been the ensemble darkhorse for Hello! Project whilst others tried to embrace the change with more optimism. Personally, I was leaning towards the former group of fans than the latter. What? S/mileage had been very quickly growing on me as a group, and the fact that they were doing a 180 in terms of lineup after I had just barely gotten into them rubbed me off the wrong way. Still, I decided to try and keep an open mind and see if the new member dynamic would work for S/mileage. After all, groups like Morning Musume and AKB48 thrived on changing lineups so why not S/mileage? Well, several months went by, and in those several months, I began to realize that the S/mileage I had been following was... different. And not necessarily in a good way. Look, I hate to be one of those purists in the idolsphere who resents change, who hisses at any possible alteration in the monotony of an idol group. I know that change has to happen in order for an idol group to evolve and move forward. But in the case of S/mileage, I felt like the changes made to the group sent them back instead of forward. The songs ranged from bland (Chotto Matte Kudasai) to awkward (Dot Bikini) to downright un-S/mileage sounding (Samui ne), and the group chemistry that had made 4nin S/mileage work so well as a group was no longer present. I didn't even have the motivation to review Tabidachi Haru ga Kita because I was just so bored with S/mileage.

Well, Yattaruchan seems to be a song that is intent on getting me to care about S/mileage again.

I mean... wow. Did I wake up back in 2011? It's like someone pulled out a defibrillator and revived S/mileage back into the adorable, quirky idol group I got into! Yattaruchan is a freaking awesome song. This is the sound I was missing from S/mileage! That enthusiasm; this is a song with boundless amounts of enthusiasm along with a ton of charm. It sounds like the songs that made me get into S/mileage while still retaining its own quirks. I really wasn't expecting much from S/mileage's next single but Yattaruchan is such a pleasant surprise, and so refreshing compared to the more serious songs the group has been getting lately. It's a childish, peppy, upbeat song and what I love is that it's done really well. Like the vocals work (even though the distribution's pretty uneven), the instrumental works, and the arrangement works. I actually noticed that the arrangement of Yattaruchan is slightly different from your average H!P song. There are two choruses instead of three, and there's a nice balance of vocals and talking bits from Kana. Speaking of which, the fact that Kana gets focus in a S/mileage song is freaking awesome. She and Rina tend to get the short end of the stick when it comes to vocals in S/mileage's music, but I'd venture to say that Yattaruchan is a song that's pretty much centered around Kana. While she doesn't sing much in the song (the vocals are mainly handled by Akari and Kanon), her monologue bits are done extremely well. I actually like her talking better because she's not exactly a very strong singer. And her bits are memorable. Even though Kana's talking in a different language, her voice is still very strong and very engaging. Her parts are my favorite bits of Yattaruchan and really are what make me enjoy the song so much. The message of sticking at things and not giving in Yattaruchan is also nice, even if it's not that original. The lyrics are cute enough and only add to the song's cuteness. Overall, I am more than pleased with the first A-side of S/mileage's latest single, and I haven't felt this positive about a S/mileage song for a long time. Yattaruchan is fun, which is an element that I think S/mileage songs had been lacking lately.

Well hey, now that I have gotten my hands on the PV for Yatteruchan without subtitles, I think it's only fair that I take a look at the PV, don't you agree? I mean, despite its cheapness, I think we all deserve a chance to back in the subtitle-free version of the Yattaruchan PV!


So that's what a Yattaruchan looks like! Well, this being an H!P PV, I highly doubt we'll ever see this little mascot in the PV again!


Our dance shot set consists of... tin foil and lightsabers? Eh, I've seen worse from H!P...


Kana scolds Dawa for her nasally singing voice.


Can I just say that I freaking love that Kana gets a boatload of screen time in this PV?


The outfits in this PV are cute! I like how they have that retro sci-fi look to them!


Yeah, the bouncy-knee dance still isn't as awkward as the entire choreography for Dot Bikini!


Bright, flashy green screens? Where have I seen these before...?


RIGHT! Dance de Bakoon!


LOVE ME KANON!


AGH!!! Meimi is a vampire! I knew it all along! RUN, AKARI! RUN!!!


I smell set recycling again... aren't these just the bars from Wakuteka Take a chance rearranged?


Maybe it's just me, but the spazz-y jumping in this part of the dance strongly reminds me of Momoiro Clover Z choreography...


Yay! Time for the idol can-can! PLAY THE ORPHEE UAX ENFERS!


Wow, the choreographers, must have been going off a checklist to get all the cliche idol moves into this dance!


Still, I can't help but like the choreography, cliches and all!


Why yes, I do plan to take over the world with my gorilla army!


It's 2013 and idols still suck at pretending to play guitars!


Nyon, if you don't quit hogging the camera, I'm gonna eat you!


A wild vampire Meimi appears!


I can't play the guitar, but dammit, I CAN TRY! I! AM! YATTARUCHAN!


Yeah, you might notice the very minimal amount of screen time Rina gets in this PV...


But it probably doesn't help her that everyone else in this PV is whoring for screen time!


You know, I think screencapping this PV has made me like Kana a lot more than I used to!


S/mileage wants you to become a Yattaruchan!


If I become a Yattaruchan, do I get a snazzy outfit?


Farewell, S/mileage! I hope you get another song as interesting as this one again!

Okay, any idol fan who follows Hello! Project knows that you kinda have to set the bar lower when it comes to their PVs. Because UFP is the Mr. Krabs of idol producing companies and a majority of H!P PVs are going to look hilariously cheap. Like "I could do this with some friends and a video camera in my garage" cheap. For that reason, I try to be a little more lenient on reviewing H!P PVs because honestly, I don't expect an extravagant, high-budget PV from them. Call it favoritism, but that's how I've learned to roll. That being said... as far as Hello! Project standards go, Yattaruchan is a pretty decent PV. Does it move me emotionally or impress me with its advanced technical effects? No, but it's still a pretty entertaining PV. The PV for Yattaruchan does feature a little bit more than your standard dance shot and close-up but not much. There are a few extra shots for solely Kana sowing her talking through a pink megaphone and speaking into a bunch of microphones. I liked that! It was kind of cute to have those shots for her talking parts and Kana looked incredibly enthusiastic! Again, not groundbreaking by any means, but still pretty entertaining to watch! Like the song, I like how the PV for Yattaruchan is centered around Kana! Her personality shines very nicely on screen, and it's refreshing to see her get more spotlight over, say, Meimi or Kanon. Not that I don't like either one of those S/mileage members; both were very enjoyable to watch in this PV too! Actually, I think the overall group dynamic in the PV for Yattaruchan was so much better than it has been in the past S/mileage PVs from 2012. Something else that just hasn't been doing it for me with S/mileage is the lack of group chemistry between the first generation and second generation members. In this PV though, for the first time, I really felt like all the members were able to play off of each other. Like in the dance shot, where they're just interacting and doing all sorts of crazy things to each other? That was fun to watch, and I love that finally the members of S/mileage are starting to look more like a group and less like a mish-mash of people.

Beyond the group chemistry, the visuals of Yattaruchan are pretty cheap as to be expected. I will say though, I feel like the producers for this PV were trying a tad bit harder to make it more visually interesting! All right, maybe they weren't trying that much harder but I can still give an E for Effort! The set for the dance shot looks hilariously cheap and kind of reminds me of the kind of set you'd see for a space ship in a 1950s science fiction movie. Probably not intentional, but I still find the gratuitous amounts of tin foil amusing. And I guess if you look at it from the right angle, the PV does kind of have a retro flair to it mainly thanks to the outfits and Kana's individual close-ups with the megaphone and microphones. I actually really like the... shininess of the PV for Yattaruchan. The color scheme of the lighting and sets felt like a combination of the PV for Uchouten Love and C-ute's Dance de Bakoon! to me. The green-screen shots with the guitars especially gave me some huge Dance de Bakoon! vibes. Like any Hello! Project PV, if you skip out on watching the PV for Yattaruchan, you're not missing too much. Personally, I found it to be a very watch-able PV that didn't look too cheap or tacky. Then again, I've been reviewing and following H!P for over two years now so maybe I'm just really accustomed to the general cheapness of their PVs. Either way, Yattaruchan is your typical cheap PV and depending on your tolerance of cheap and unoriginal PVs, you will either love the PV for Yattaruchan or try to forget about it. If you wanna see the girls of S/mileage just bouncing around, interacting, and generally having fun with each other, then I think Yattaruchan is a PV that showcases them nicely. Again, there are no profound statements or symbols to be found in this PV, but I think the lightness of the PV for Yattaruchan matches the song. And together, I think Yattaruchan has been one of the strongest A-sides from S/mileage since Please Miniskirt Postwoman. The elements in the PV work, and while the PV isn't very creative, I still enjoyed watching it, much more than Tabidachi no Haru Kita anyways.


So yeah. Can you believe that S/mileage actually themselves? For being able to get me to care about S/mileage again, I shall bestow upon Yattaruchan four out of five apples. The song is probably one of the most entertaining and S/mileage-y songs I've heard from the group and I love that it features Kana so much. The PV is your standard Hello! Project PV with a few quirks but nothing too deviant from their PV formula. What I love the most about Yattaruchan is the fact that it's the first A-side in a long time that I really think has worked for S/mileage. Will S/mileage be able to keep my good graces with the other A-side on this single though? Tune in next time to find out!

I KNEW IT! I KNEW THEY WERE RELEASING AN ALBUM THIS YEAR!

Well, all right, I didn't know know but you get what I mean! And a new album announcement isn't the only thing to grace the wonderful Perfume fandom! I always feel like Perfume's management does this thing where they just info dump a bunch of news on the fans and then go a really long time without announcing anything. I can't be the only one who feels that way, right? But hey, right now, I'm not criticizing that management decision because holy smokes, Perfume is planing on doing a boatload of stuff for the rest of 2013! New concerts, awards, mind-blowing live performances... egads, I don't even know where I'm supposed to start!   Well, how about the fact that Perfume is releasing their fourth studio album yet despite that fact, the album is still called Level 3. You'd think it'd be called Level 4 but fans have been speculating that the levels refer to the stages of exposure Perfume has. Like Level 1 is local, Level 2 is national, Level 3 is international, you get what I mean. Whatever the album title means, I am ecstatic that Perfume is finally releasing another album! Their last album, JPN was released in late 2011 and the release date for Level 3 is going to be some time in late 2013 so it's been a good two years since the last album from Perfume. Too long in my opinion but as long as the album deliver the technopop amazingness that I expect from the glorious techno trio of Japan, I can't complain too much. Of course, since the release date is set to be in autumn, that means there's going to be a good deal of time in which the fans will be left sprawling around, grasping at straws, and trying to figure out just what kind of direction Level 3 will take. One of the biggest speculations right now for me is what B-sides are going to make it onto the album and which ones will be cut. I don't want another A-side/B-side overload like JPN; I say the more new tracks, the better. However, it's only logical that Perfume would probably include one or two of their B-sides. Personally, I'd be happy if Hurly Burly, Point and Handy Man all made it into Level 3, but that's just my opinion.

I know that Spring of Life, Spending all my time, Mirai no Museum and Magic of Love are all definitely getting onto the album, but I can't help but wonder if any of those four A-sides are getting a remix a la Laser Beam or Glitter. My money's on Spending all my time getting an album mix, mainly because of the performance of the song at Cannes used a mix in lieu of the regular song. We'll talk about that performance in a minute, but I could see SAMT getting a remix. It's a very... mix-able song! There's also the matter of how many tracks there will be on the album. I'm hoping for 14 since the more the merrier, but what I mainly want is a nice balance of new songs and old songs on the album. Like I said earlier, my biggest problem with JPN a small amount of newer tracks. It probably doesn't help that the JPN ear had a ton of A-sides, something that thankfully the Level 3 era doesn't have. A perfect balance for me would be six new songs and six old songs. I think that's a nice mix of old and new. Part of me also wonders what the concept for Level 3 is going to be like, especially in terms of visuals. I usually tend to love Perfume's visual aesthetic, especially with their albums, so I expect something pretty interesting for Level 3. The question is whether the album will continue in the lighter direction that JPN went in or if it'll draw back to the more experimental ⊿ or Game. I wouldn't mind if Perfume got a bit edgier for Level 3, but that's just how I feel. What's so exciting is that I really don't know what to expect for Level 3. The singles in this era aren't that cohesive so I can't think much of an image or concept for this album. That partially gets me excited but another part of me is also dying for more information and details about the album. Oh well, I guess that will come in due time and for now, I'll just have to suffer and wait. If only there was some way I could transport myself to the Perfume concert in London to pass the time and satisfy that Perfume craving I'm bound to get eventually.

I kid, I kid, but there is some exciting news about the London tour as well! It's going to be broadcasted in several theaters around the world including Los Angeles in the USA and Mexico City in... well, Mexico! Pretty exciting for people with access to those locations, pretty depressing for people who can't. Such as people who live in The Sticks. But enough moping from me, I can't wait to hear about just what Perfume plans on doing in each location of their 2nd World Tour, especially for the London concert! Who knows? Maybe the end of this 2nd World Tour will feature an announcement of a 3rd World Tour! But I highly doubt an announcement like that is coming yet, mainly because Perfume has announced two huge concerts in their home country. On December 7th and 8th and 24th and 25th, Perfume will be holding two dome concerts, the first one at the Kyo-sera Dome and the second one at the one and only Tokyo Dome! Personally, I am extremely excited to see both concerts when they're released on DVD, especially the one at Tokyo Dome! Their first Tokyo Dome concert was incredible, and I can only imagine just how the Perfume team is going to top the next one! Anyways, because Perfume plans on releasing an album in fall of 2013 and embarking on two dome concerts in winter 2013, I doubt that Perfume is planning on doing a 3rd World Tour this year. Which means... there's a possibility that next year Perfume might hold one. Like in the summer. When I graduate. Let me tell you, if Perfume performed in the United States in the summer of 2014, that would make my freaking year. I know it's a little too early to get idealistic about stuff like that happening but ugh, you guys know how much I adore Perfume. If there's even the smallest of a chance that they might perform in the US, I'm doing everything in my power to be able to see them.


And then to add the wonderful pile of Perfume news, the motion capture used in Perfume concerts and developed by Daito Manabe won the Silver Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity! For good reason I'd suspect; the incredible technology incorporated into Perfume concerts is one of the many elements of what makes their live performances so jaw-droppingly memorable. What made the event even better was that Perfume actually got to perform at Cannes using the motion capture Manabe won an award for! You see that video I linked above this paragraph. Click it. Don't question me, I swear you absolutely won't regret. That, my readers, is a remixed live performance of Spending all my time and holy shit is it amazing. You know who I posted a list of my top fifteen Perfume lives a few months ago? Well, had I decided to publish that post now instead of then, this performance would totally be on there. I hate to sound so praise-y, but this performance is just.... perfect. The visuals are the best part, the technological effects are absolutely entrancing. With the motion capture, Perfume managed to take a small stage and briefly turn it into a technological spectacle. Seeing these effects used to smoothly really makes me appreciate that Daito Manabe won an award for all the hard work he put into these visual effects. And that's not the only thing that impressed me about this performance. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think this live of Spending all my time actually got me to start liking the song. Yeah, you heard me, Spending all my time, the Perfume song I expressed excessive amounts of disappointment towards, has slowly become a song that I can actually enjoy listening to. I know, right!? For that reason, I really hope this mix of Spending all my time is included in Perfume's new album. It is way too awesome not to make it to the album.

Whew. That's one hell of an info dump, huh? I can't complain much though; I'm freaking excited! Especially in regards to Level 3.... not like that's obvious by the word vomit I just typed, right? So Perfume fans, how are you holding up with this amazing dump of news? Are you ripping your clothes off and praising the lord? Hiding under your bed and counting the days until the release of more news? Or something completely sane and normal?

Yeah, I refuse to put those nightmare-inducing single covers on my PV review... promo pics, it is!


What's that Brand-new Idol Society group been up to lately? Dying of course! In a sense at least. As you can tell by the picture above, the BiS we know and love looks a tad bit different. They got new haircuts, didn't they? I knew it! All right, all right, it's old news by now, and many BiS fans know that the group has gone thorough yet another phase in which some of their members graduate and the group holds auditions to replace them. This time around, two girls said "Sayonara" to the BiS way of entertaining and three girls came in! In hindsight, I probably should have at least commented in a news post about all the pretty drastic lineup changes to BiS, but I guess I was preoccupied with other posts of more importance to me. Such as Perfume. I guess it just didn't dawn on me at the times of the graduations and auditions just how big this news was for BiS. I mean granted this isn't the first time the unconventionally fantastic idol group has lost/gained members. The member lineup for BiS has already changed seven times since the group was formed in 2011. Yeah. Pretty crazy, huh? In perspective, for an idol group with such a small amount of members and short tenure, BiS has gone through a boatload of lineup changes.Maybe not Morning Musume or (god forbid) AKB48 levels of change, but still quite a lot. Well, what's done is done and I can't change the fact that both Wacky and Yufu have long departed BiS now, even if Yufu was my favorite member of the group... As sad as their graduations were, I couldn't help but get interested to see who would be added to the group and how it would change the group dynamic. And so auditions passed (and Nia continued to be a lazy butt and not write about it) and three new members were added to BiS: Kamiya Saki, Tentenko (surname was not specified), and First Summer Uika. You think that last member is using a stage name? And for what is essentially a "rebirth" of BiS, what a better song to debut the new members with than a song about death?

Like any single that debuts new members of an idol group, I was excited and intrigued to find out what BiS' first single with the new members would sound like. Would it somehow be as awesome as PPCC? Hardcore as Idol? The possibilities always seem endless when it comes to a group like Brand-new Idol Society, simply because they're just one of those idol groups that never seems to stick to one genre. And you all know that's why I freaking love their music so much, hence my excitement to hear what their next single would sound like. When the single title was announced as DiE, I was... intrigued. Frankly, I had no idea what kind of direction a song with a title like that would take. Would the song sound melancholic? Gritty? Wistful? I mean, the song is called DiE. How cheerful can a song with that ray-of-sunshine of a title sound, you know? I really had no idea what to expect for DiE, which isn't surprising since I never really know what to expect for any of BiS' songs. I'd be pretty pleased with whatever genre the song took on, as long as it wasn't metal. Not that metal is a bad genre of music, I'm just not a metalhead. I wasn't a huge fan of Idol or Idol is Dead for that reason. When I first heard the song via the PV, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the DiE was thank god, not a metal song. It is, however, still a pretty dark-sounding song. The instrumentals are pretty hardcore (as hardcore as an idol group can get) and the song has a general feel of just... grittiness. You guys know the song Primal? Another BiS song, and one of their indies, it's one of my favorite BiS songs and one of my favorite idol songs in general. I feel like DiE and Primal sound very similar. Both songs have that very unpolished, almost grunge-y sound, and the idol vocals provide for a nice (but not stark contrast). Even the pitching in both songs is very similar. Despite the fact that DiE sounds a lot like Primal to my ears, that doesn't really subtract any of my enjoyment towards the song. If anything, it makes me like DiE even more! What? If a formula for a song works, I don't necessarily mind if that formula is replicated in another song by the same group...

That being said, DiE isn't by any means the best BiS song I've ever heard. It's still a very good song and a nice breather from all the pop music I review on this blog, but it's not perfect. I think DiE is better than BiSimulation but it's not quite as good as PPCC. What I like about DiE is the general sound of the instrumental, but I'm not so keen on the vocals for this song. Well... I'm not so keen on the key the vocals are sung in; it's a tad bit too high for the girls. It's a little nitpicky, but I feel like had the song been sung a key or two lower, it would have worked better. I also wish DiE was a little bit longer and a little more clearly structured. When I first listened to the song, it all kind of sounded like a giant mash of choruses and verses and instrumental breaks thrown into a giant melting pot. Now that I've listened to the song a lot more, I've thankfully gotten a hold on said structuring. And that was when I realized that I would have liked this song to be just a little bit longer. DiE is only about three and a half minutes long, and I think the song could have been a minute or so longer. Like the instrumental after the last chorus of the song is way too short, and abruptly ends before you can even register that the song is over. That's getting a little nitpick-y, but hey, I'm only nitpicking because I love BiS so much! The only other thing I can really talk about with this song are the lyrics... or I could if I could find a translation. I know the song is about living your life and not wasting it, but I would like to know what the song is specifically singing about. Unfortunately, I guess BiS is too obscure to get a lot of song translations. It's a shame because the Google Translate version of the lyrics sounded promising, or as promising as a shitty translation can get. Language barriers aside, I really did enjoy DiE as a song, even if it may not be my favorite BiS song ever. I think it has some nice guitar and it's a nice continuation of the alternative sound that keeps me coming back to BiS. It also introduced the new members nicely, and if I were going to debut in an idol group, I wouldn't mind doing it with DiE!

So this is the part of my typical PV review when I post some screencaps with my own commentary that ranges from witty to corny. Well... with the PV for DiE, I don't feel like I can really do that. I mean technically I could but I don't think it would make for a very substantial PV review. It's not like the PV broaches too sensitive of subjects that I can't make quips about them, but I'd rather just take a handful of shots from the PV and just... discuss them. In more than 1-2 sentences per picture, at least. The shots in this PV need to be talked about, and I feel like I can more easily talk about them during the screencap rather than when I'm reviewing the overall PV. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that my screencap for DiE is more... detailed? Analytical? Call it what you want, but let's dive into this attempted analysis of a rather strange idol PV from a rather strange idol group.


Already a tone for this PV is set with the opening shot. Pour Lui, lying topless on a bed, staring at the camera with a desolate expression on her face and the title scribbled onto the shot. It's not out-of-place for a BiS PV, considering the girls have dabbled in nudity on more than one occasion, but it's still a rather jarring shot, mainly thanks to how eerily still Pour Lui is.


After the opening shot, the PV immediately cuts to an upward shot of Pour Lui, this time with darker lighting. It almost looks like she's having sex in this shot, but since you only see it from her angle, you never find out. Whatever she's doing, it looks like she's just given up and resigned herself to whatever fate's entailed for her. She may not be happy about it, but at the same time, it feels like she doesn't feel like there's any point in trying to object to it either.


The PV then cuts to Tentenko, one of the new members, leaning against the wall in a red kimono and pigtails. She'd actually look rather adorable if not for the traumatized expression on her face. Now that I bring it up, you never do see any of the BiS girls smile in this PV, let alone look remotely happy. They all look sad or frightened or devastated, like they've all been crushed by something and they're too devoid of hope to try and get back up.


Something I noticed very quickly about this PV was the lighting. I know it's kind of a weird thing to point out in an idol PV, but I feel like it's important to what the PV's trying to convey. Almost every shot in the PV shows each girl sitting in the dark and either being illuminated by a ray of light or looking out towards light. They never make an attempt to go towards said light, only staring into the distance, thinking about god-knows-what. I'd like to think that the light represents something to be desired, or perhaps even a sense of idealism that can no longer be reached due to the events surrounding each girl.


The next close-up focuses on Saki, crouching in her closet, very clearly hiding in her clothes. But we never find out what she's hiding from. But it's like she's retreated into her own little world, trying to take solace in an environment that's familiar to her but not being able to do so because of something that's painful enough to effect her so profusely. I'd say her shots in the PV have the least amount of light, maybe because she has the least amount of hope?


I think what really drew me into this PV was that it felt like each different close-up in it felt like a different story. Or rather, it felt like a story had just ended and we were getting to see the after effects. It's like you catch the girls mid-reaction, at the moment when they're the most emotionally vulnerable, and it's rather poignant. You don't know what happened to them, all you know is that they went through something that led them to this point. I think that not showing the events before only makes these shots more powerful. It's up to the viewer's imagination to determine just what happened and try and put all the pieces back together.


A different shot of Pour Lui, wearing a towel in lieu of being topless. Like Mitchel, she's also sitting in a dimly lit area, but she has a mirror to her back/side. Part of me wonders if the mirrors in all the different shots are meant to be a motif similar to the lighting, but mirrors don't appear enough in the PV for me to be able to come to a definite conclusion.


And here we have Uika, another new member, staring off into the distance with only a little circle of light illuminating her closeup. In this shot, she's extremely still, with only her lips moving a lot. The numb stillness of the rest of her body is a bit unnerving. Like with Mitchel and Tentenko and Nozomi, it left me wondering just what had happened to Uika for her to reach such a state. Some traumatizing? Depressing? Painful? Who even knows?





The next shots in the PV are all images of the girls feet. I feel like this collection of shots symbolizes something... unfortunately, I'm not sure what. I think a key detail to notice is that all the feet give off distressed body language, as if the girls are all nervous or afraid of something. Saki's feet are shaking, Mitchel is drawing her feet away, Nozomi is shaving her legs... it's almost like they're all trying to get away from (or get rid of) something. What that is, I can't say. Of course, the alternative explanation is that the director really had a fetish for feet, but I'd like to think there's something symbolic behind the back-to-back series of feet shots!


Another shot of Tentenko, but this time her kimono's in disarray, as though she'd taken it off and hastily thrown it back on. I think the fact that absolutely no context was given for the change in her clothing is a little creepy, since it leaves the viewer to guess what might have happened. Was it sex? Assault? It could be anything... or nothing at all. The small space she's in also gives off a vibe of claustrophobia, as though she's trapped.


Here's another shot of Mitchel still staring off into the light. I like how in this shot the light's more focused around her head. I also like that this shot of her is further away than before; I think it gives off a vibes of isolation and loneliness.


I think Tentenko looks very doll-like in this PV, and her delicate nature only makes her close-ups more harrowing. You almost feel sorry for her because she just looks so... broken. Like she needs a hug! In fact, I think everyone in this PV needs a hug... and some clothes...


Saki came off as the most emotional in this PV to me. Unlike the other girls, who are all very passive and numb throughout the PV, every shot of her shows her doing more active things, both physically and emotionally. She's a lot more expressive, and you can very visibly see that she's going through something distressful. Saki provides a very nice contrast to the other emotional states depicted in this PV, and she does a pretty good job giving off that borderline-hysterical vibe. I mean, she won't win an Oscar or anything, but for an idol PV, her emotions feel very genuine!


Speaking of distinct emotions, around this part in the PV is when Uika starts getting more visibly emotional. Again, the contrast between her very numb, disconnected facial expression and her much more raw facial expression is what makes this shot work.


And now Uika is lying on the floor, with that very listless expression back on her face. Something I noticed is that she's almost in the same position Pour Lui was in at the beginning of the video, except with her towel still wrapped around her body, albeit a little more carelessly. I don't know if it means anything, but I still thought that was rather interesting.


The rest of these shots are pretty short and only last a few seconds, but a few of them stood out to me. Such as the one I screencapped above! Kind of obvious but still! Really I just noticed in this (very brief) shot that another mirror popped up. I wonder if maybe the mirrors are supposed to represent the each girl's own self-reflection, along with her inner contemplations. Just a crack theory, but I just wanted to throw it out there!


You know how I was previously talking about how Uika went from very passively emotional to very actively emotional and how that really worked? Well, Saki has the reverse transition, and it works just as well! It's almost like Saki finally got past one stage of trauma (an outwardly emotional stage) and entered another stage (a more inward but still visibly scared stage).


Another lighting shot, this time showing Mitchel standing behind an brightly lit window, but still somewhat in the dark. It's almost like she mustered up the courage to move closer to the light but couldn't bring herself to go completely into it.


I really liked this shot, even if it was a really fast, just because of the expression on Nozomi's face. Up until this point, she's had a very neutral facial expression, but under the shower, she's a lot more expressive. You can visibly tell she's in pain, and the imagery feels very raw.


And finally the PV ends the way it began. With Pour Lui, lying down and staring into the camera.

A word of advice to anyone watching the PV for DiE on Youtube: don't read the comments section. Unless you want to lose your faith in humanity and general respect of the human race. Okay, you've been warned. On to more important things! A lot of you already know that while I'm a huge fan of BiS' music, when it comes to their PVs, they're always very... hit-or-miss. Sometimes they get really well-done PVs such as My Ixxx and PPCC and then they get PVs like... Mura-Mura. In other words, their music is sometimes more appealing than the PVs that accompany them. Luckily, this time around the PV for DiE falls into the former category of BiS PVs! When I first saw this PV, I really wasn't sure what to make of it. Then again, that had been my same reaction to several other BiS PVs. But I also felt a little uncomfortable when watching DiE. Not because of the nudity (lord knows BiS has done that before) but just about the way it was shot and the stillness of each shot. I kind of felt the same way towards the PV for Primal when I first watched it, but for a few different reasons. What made me so uncomfortable about the Primal PV was how intimate the shots were; I mean, the girls were shoving cameras down their throats. The fact that the PV was shot on a cheap video camera only added to the sense of discomfort, and most of the shots were so jerky and shaky I could barely tell what was going on. DiE feels much like an inversion of Primal. There's still a very grainy, home-video type of atmosphere to the PV for DiE, much like Primal, and the shots are just as intimate and uncomfortable. However, these shots are also very long and very still, taking several seconds to focus on each girl before cutting away. Where Primal succeeded as a PV was the fact that it was so fast-paced you could never really grasp what you'd just seen. With DiE, that same effect is achieved because the shots are so drawn-out, and what the viewer is presented with are a series of odd images showing the girls in variously discomforting and emotional situations that aren't ever really explained.

On the subject of showing but not explaining, there's a lot of that going on in this PV. As I touched on in my screencap, what I got from this PV was that something had happened to each member of BiS and this PV was meant to show the after-effects of whatever event that was. Tentenko and Uika dealt with said events by retreating into a state of numbness and detachment. Saki was much more visibly emotional, spending much of the PV sobbing and burying her head into her knees. And then towards the end of the PV, all the girls start crying. Clearly something happened, even if that something is never shown. So what the viewer isn't allowed or doesn't see leaves them only to speculate and pick up the pieces to try and come up with an explanation. And the only hints available were the ones that could be found on the screen such as the setting, the atmosphere, and other various visuals. What worked with the PV for DiE is that it took very simplistic visuals and added just enough discomfort and unease to leave the viewer wanting to know more. I felt like the PV for DiE was trying to convey something... I just couldn't put my finger on exactly what. That's one of the reasons why I'd like to know what the translation of the song is about, to see if it has anything at all to do with the themes and visuals presented in this PV. I know the main theme of the song is not letting your life go to waste, but I'm still trying to figure out how that theme is presented in this PV, if it is at all. Then again, maybe the images in this PV were just meant to be shock value; BiS has done plenty of shock-value PVs before, Primal included, so it's not that implausible. But I don't want to dismiss this PV has a cleverly calculated ploy to generate shock from the audience, because I can't shake that nagging feeling that there's something more presented in this PV. If only I had the abilities to pick apart this PV more. I'm not exactly an expert at visual analysis in media; hell, I'm only seventeen.

Even if all these themes I'm speculating about are complete and total bullshit and the producers were just trying to find shocking visuals to draw in a certain demographic, I still think the PV for DiE is very well-done. What I liked about the PV was that it had a lot of atmosphere to it, and I think what contributes to said atmosphere is knowing that the PV was filmed in the house/apartment of each member of BiS. It gives the PV a more personal and intimate edge. Like most PVs, DiE had a pretty gritty feel to it, but not quite as gritty as the Primal PV. Still, I found both those PVs similar on a visual level. I touched on this aspect of the PV in my screencap as well, but I'm a huge fan of the lighting used in the PV, and the use of shadows. Again, it adds to the atmosphere and the general mood of the PV; keeping the girls mostly in dark and dimly lit areas builds a layer of despair and loneliness. What also adds to the sense of melancholy perpetuating throughout the PV are the girls themselves; they actually do a pretty decent job of showing emotions such as sadness in different ways. I mean, there were parts of the PV, where I actually felt genuinely sorry for the members of BiS, even though obviously the context of the PV didn't effect them in real life. I also like that this PV does a very nice job of showcasing the new members of the group, just like the song alone does! I don't know much about the new members yet, but they all seem to fit into BiS pretty well. I just hope that they'll all be able to stick around longer than Wacky and Yufu did, and that all the members can at least try to get along. In the end, how much you like this PV probably depends on how much you like BiS and how much you're willing to look beyond simply the images presented in a video. I found DiE to be a very thought-provoking PV, and it made me ponder about what this PV was supposed to mean, if anything. Still, I'd like to believe that there was a message trying to be conveyed in DiE, even if I don't have the analytical skill to quite figure out just what that message was meant to be.


If you're looking for a darker and grungier idol release amongst the wave of happy-go-lucky summer songs, I'd give DiE a listen. It's not the best BiS song I've ever heard but it's still nice. Like any other BiS PV, the PV for DiE one isn't for everyone, especially if you like your idols fluffy and adorable. I personally found the PV to be very thought-provoking and a nice shift from all the bikini PVs I've been screencapping lately!

What's that? You're wondering what in the hell a Hello! Project idol group and an Avex idol group could possibly have in common? Well, if you hear me out, you might be surprised...


I'll have you know reviewing S/mileage material was a lot easier when all their songs were cutesy and sugary and sounded similar. Now it's like they're the Hello! Project equivalent of a Magic 8 Ball. Since Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki, I never know just where the hell they're going both musically and stylistically. Will they do a ballad? A bland-ish song that sounds like a filler for a Super Girls album? A quirky and wacky ode to working hard? The possibilities are endless!

And today, the Wheel of S/mileage Music has spun to Atarashii Watashi ni Nare!

Much like Yattaruchan, the other A-side to the latest S/mileage single, I was expecting little to nothing from Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! Of course, that's probably because at the time I was cruising on the SS I Could Care Less when it came to S/mileage in general. But after the PV for Yattaruchan came out and to my surprise was actually a pretty fun and energetic S/mileage song, I began to take a little more interest in what the other accompanying A-side would sound like. I mean, not too much interest, but enough to keep an eye out for when the PV would come out. Could S/mileage possibly impress me twice in a row and prove that the chemistry that made Yattaruchan a success wasn't just a fluke? So time marched on and the PV for Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! came out, and my reaction towards the PV was... well... I'll elaborate on that in a few paragraphs. What immediate struck me about Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! was how different it was from Yattaruchan both musically and visually. Unlike Yattaruchan, which had all the quirkiness and charm you'd find in 4nin S/mileage, Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! is much more serious-sounding and intense. For a group that's typically much perkier and upbeat, this change in tone might seem a little jolting... if not for the fact that S/mileage has dabbled in some more mature music in the past year. It started with Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki, which straddled the line between happy and serious, with... mixed results. Personally, I thought the song was a step-up from the atrocious Dot Bikini but the song wasn't spectacular, and I too had a mixed feeling about the more mature sound of the song. Following Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki was Samui ne, a straight up ballad completely different from any other S/mileage A-side of the past. Like its predecessor, reactions to this A-side were also divisive, with some applauding the change in style and others deeming it an experimental failure. I wasn't terribly fond of Samui ne but I didn't think it was a horrid song either. And then there's Tabidachi Haru no Kita but I don't want to bore you with my opinion of that snooze of a song.

Bottom line is, the few times that S/mileage has experimented with a more serious sound have usually produced rather mixed results. Sure, X from their first album worked decently but strictly speaking about A-sides, their happier and more childish songs have typically worked better than their darker and edgier songs. So Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! is no different from this pattern. Or it shouldn't be at least. After all, it is a very mature-sounding song for S/mileage, and that's not even taking into account the music video. This song has all the elements that have normally worked against S/mileage in the past. It's devoid of any of the stronger elements of S/mileage's music such as Uchouten Love, Suki-chan or even Please Miniskirt Postwoman. Yet despite all that... I think Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! works. Yeah, yeah, call me crazy, check me into the loony bin, but I still think that Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! pulls off that serious sound better than Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki and Samui ne. Is it the greatest idol song I've ever heard? Of course not. But I still think that Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! holds up fairly well on its own, better than I thought it would. It took me a few listens to really get into this song, but once I did, I started liking it. And then I started pondering what was it about Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! that made it work better than say, Samui ne? Or Suki yo, Junjou Hankouki? Both those songs were serious, but in the end, both those songs fell flat for me. It's rather hard for me to pinpoint the appeal of Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! but I think it has to do with the fact that it's a serious song and doesn't try to be anything else. It's not throwing in any randomly upbeat parts and vocally, the song is decently suited for S/mileage, unlike a ballad where strong vocals have to carry the song. Don't get me wrong, I could see this song working better for C-ute, but for S/mileage, Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! still holds up as a decent A-side. Is it a different sound for S/mileage? Yes, but unlike some of their previous attempts, I think it's different in a good way.

And now we have the inevitable question: which A-side is better? The fun insanity of Yattaruchan? Or the serious intensity of Atarashii Watashi ni Nare? Well, as much as I love pitting A-sides against one another, I don't feel like I can really compare these two because they're so incredibly different from each other. You've basically got these two songs on two far ends of the idol music spectrum. Yattaruchan is fun. Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! is serious. For that reason, it's hard to pick which of these two very different-sounding songs is better per say. I think it all boils down to your own personal taste. If your a fan of fun and wacky S/mileage and fun and wacky S/mileage only, Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! clearly isn't going to be your cup of tea. But personally, I like that Yattaruchan and Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! sound so different from each other. I love Yattaruchan, I think it's a great song, but I also don't think it needs a mediocre ripoff that only has half the fun and energy. One of the problems I had with Morning Musume's last double A-side single (Brainstorming/Kimi Sae Ireba Nani mo Iranai) was that Brainstorming was such a good song that Kimi Sae Ireba, which was very similar in style, paled considerably in comparison. Both A-sides were too similar to be on the same single, especially to both be promoted. This S/mileage single, thankfully doesn't have that problem. I think the fact that Yattaruchan and Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! both have distinctly different styles makes this S/mileage single, in my opinion, one of their strongest since Yuuka left. Look at this from a food perspective (because let's be honest, everyone loves food). Would you rather have gourmet vanilla ice cream and gourmet chocolate ice cream or gourmet chocolate ice cream and expired dollar store chocolate ice cream? If you picked the latter, then damn, you've got some weird taste buds but anyways. Riding on my food metaphor, it's the appeal of sweet and salty that makes Yattaruchan and Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! work together.

But wait, there's more! Well, not much more, considering most Hello! Project PVs don't add much to their respective songs. And the PV for Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! is no exception, however I still think it deserves a screencap. So away we go!


Well, there's not much to say about the title drop but hey, look at that lovely subtitles-less screenshot!


So is Dawa hypnotizing Rina into clinging to her leg like a koala or...?


Gee, 10 seconds in and already they're piling on the intimate girl-on-girl dance moves!


A wild Akari appears!


All these intimate shots of 14 and 15 year-old girls touching and embracing each other takes me back to the PV for Liar...


...then again, Liar was a tad more explicit. By idol standards, anyways.


I'm kinda iffy about the outfits for Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! They're nice-looking but they also look like they belong in 2002.


Crap. Kanji. If only H!P had subbed the signs in this PV instead of the actual song.


I can't pinpoint exactly why but somehow this weird choreography feels out-of-place...


Actually, the choreography in general keeps whiplashing from sassy and kinda sensual to downright odd.


DRAMATIC CLOSEUP OF WORDS I CAN'T READ AGHHHHHHH Yeah, I should probably look up the translations...


1st Gen. S/mileage implores you to stop begging for Saki and Yuuka to return.


Maybe Kana's sign reads "Please give me more spotlight, UFP." And thus, Yattaruchan was born!


If you're S/mileage and you know it, clap your hands!


The power of Meimi's bite voice sends all the girls to the floor in fear awe.


I gotta admit, those shoes and socks are actually pretty freaking adorable...


Oh look, Rina's token moment of spotlight in this PV! You go Rina! Claim that spotlight!


But uh-oh, looks like Meimi's got her eyes on anyone trying to steal her spotlight... hee hee... puns...


I feel like if this dance were done by say, C-ute or Tokyo Girls' Style it might work better. But it's a S/mileage dance and the results are... varied.


You know, these close-ups kind of remind me of parts of Jiriri Kiteru.


Maybe because both these H!P groups have a hard time pulling off a mature image?


Oh hai, gratuitous leg shot!


Ha, it's funny because she's only fifteen years old!


Come to think of it, these shots are a tad bit awkward when you factor in the ages of the S/mileage girls.


Swish, swish... this might be a cute dance move if they had swishy skirts to swish around swishily!


Meimi on the prowl for potential victims to suck blood from- I mean, uh, posing for the camera!


Okay, is it just me or are these close-ups starting to give a stalker vibe...?


In fact, what if the whole concept of this video was the girls getting stalked!?


And what if the signs are really their distress pleas for help!?


Oh, who am I kidding? This PV recycled the set from Juice=Juice's first PV; I highly doubt there's any kind of "deeper meaning" to be found.


Well, S/mileage, you tried your damnedest to do a mature PV, didn't you?

Now you might be wondering, "What in the hell in this PV reminded Nia of Tokyo Girls' Style?" You also might not be, but for the sake of this post, I'm just assuming that you are. I know it seems like a weird comparison to make considering how different both groups are, but there are a few elements of the PV for Atarashii Watashi ni Nare! that struck me as familiar to the SweetS-reborn idol group that I'm such a huge fan of. Here are a few aspects of this PV that I made me think of TGS:

• Simplistic but sleek looking sets
• Flattering outfits that look a tad too mature but not "I'm calling the police" mature
• Sensual dances performed by 14 and 15 year olds
• Suggestive poses that depict the girls being intimate toward each other

Well, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit. After all, I wouldn't just drop a group I try to regularly review from my review list completely just because another similar group stole their thunder! Of course not! It's not like I neglected to review Tabidachi no Haru ga Kita because of how boring it was! Or that I've generally been giving less and less of a shit about S/mileage especially in the wake of a new Hello! Project group finally being introduced into the mix! Seriously, how long has it been since a new group was formed? Four years? Feels like longer, especially since I became an idol blogger... Seriously, I think we can all agree that Hello! Project has been due for a new group, especially after S/mileage's... de-evolution to put it nicely. But I'm not writing a whole post to bitch about S/mileage. Let's talk about the juicy new group known as Juice=Juice!

Ah, Juice=Juice... okay, I'm not gonna lie, that has got to be one of the silliest idol group names I've heard in my brief time as an idol blogger. It's not as silly as say Sexy All Sisters or Baby Gamba but it's definitely one of the less appealing idol group names out there. Not to mention the loads and loads of perverted jokes you can make about a group with the word "juice" in its name... But I'm above such bawdy humor! Get thee to 4chan if you wish to seek out crude humor of that nature! Anyways, Juice=Juice has been a rather juicy topic among the Hello! Project fandom mainly because for the first time in four years, a new group is being introduced into the H!P lineup. That's kind of a huge deal; hopefully JuJu won't suffer the same fate as S/mileage though and get screwed over by a series of unnecessary and unfortunate lineup changes. Again, that's an idea long in the future and hopefully we'll never have to experience that with this new group. Anyways, a lot of people, myself included, have been crossing their fingers and hoping that H!P would come out with a new group because it would bring a nice and refreshing change. A new group means a new style, a new look, new members, new songs, all of which can be distinguished from the current H!P groups. And to make things even better, Juice=Juice is a new group that consists mainly of Kenshuusei that have been lingering to debut in H!P for a variety of time. With fan favorites like Miyamoto Karin and Otsuka Aina along with newcomers like Kanazawa Tomoko and Uemura Akari, the member lineup looked promising too. I think everyone was on the edge of their seats to see and hear just how this new group would turn out. Would Juice=Juice be able to live up to all the hype and high expectations placed upon it? After all, potential didn't always mean that the payoff would be worthwhile. What if Juice=Juice burst with failure much like an overripe orange bursts upon splatting onto the ground?

Luckily, I don't think Juice=Juice is going to have that problem.

Believe me, I was a tad bit skeptical when Tsunku described Juice=Juice as a group that would be true to themselves and try to adopt a "cool and sexy attitude." Cool and sexy, huh? So Miyamoto Karin and Takagi Sayuki are supposed to look cool and sexy? Good luck trying to pull that off! I didn't want to say I was completely against the idea of a more mature and cool group but with the lineup and the fruity theme of the group, I wasn't sure how it would be executed, especially when it came to the group's music. After hearing a  concert rip of Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne (aka the song with the really long title), I still wasn't completely sold. But when I got my hands on a clearer and better quality rip, Juice=Juice's first song started to grow on me. I think part of Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne's appeal is that it sounds different from the songs the other H!P groups are releasing right now. With Momusu riding on the electropop wave, S/mileage fading away from my view, and Berryz being Berryz, it's kind of refreshing to hear this type of sound. I almost want to say Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne could be a C-ute song since it does have a fairly sensual vibe to it. But I feel like this song is more playful than C-ute's sexy direction, more... fun. And I think that's what I like about the tone of this song; it's a nice combination of fun and mature. The song isn't PyokoPyoko Ultra levels of cuteness yet it also isn't Kimagure Princess levels of maturity either; it balances itself perfectly. When the song wants to sound mature, it does! Particularly in the chorus. I think the instrumental though is where the playful aspect of the song really emerges, mainly in that flipping awesome saxophone. I said in another post that I love saxophones and their versatility, they make a song sound badass, cheesy, mature, retro, fun a whole variety of sounds and styles. Sure, you can do that with other instruments but the saxophone just adds a certain level of flair to a song!

Those opening saxophone notes for Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne were what grabbed me and that's good. A great song should have the ability to get the listener interested within the opening notes and/or verse and that saxophone just bursting in sets a level of energy for the song. From then on, the song is upbeat and really energetic but it also maintains an air of coolness. The song actually reminds me a lot of Morning Musume's Sexy Boy ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~ only with the para-para instrumental replaced by a saxophone and the annoying background vocals cut. Honestly, there's only one aspect of Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne that I'm kind of iffy about and unfortunately it's kind of a big aspect: the vocals. For such a maturely and borderline-sensual song, some of the girls of Juice=Juice sound, well, adorable! And in another song that would work great but in this song, it does kind of feel out of place. Even Karin, whose voice I adore, sounds a little bit strange in some of her solos like her voice was taken from another lighter cuter song and thrown into this one. Same goes for Aina, especially Aina. I don't know what happened; she sounded great live but in this song she's sounds even more nasally than Fukuda Kanon! And Tagaki Sayuki's high-pitched voice doesn't work well in this song either. Let me emphasize that I'm not saying anyone sounds bad in Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne (well... maybe Aina). In fact, all the girls have nice voices but some of those voices sound out of place in this song! I think to really carry a song like Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne, you need stronger voices; I could see a group like C-ute pulling off this song or maybe even Platinum-era Morning Musume. I will say Kanazawa Tomoko's voice works great in this song and so does Uemura Akari's but I don't hear her voice enough.

Honestly though, the flaws in Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne don't take much away from my enjoyment of the song. The song may be a little too mature-sounding considering the age average of Juice=Juice, but I don't think that's a huge problem. The more I listen to Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne, the more it grows on me; I could easily see it becoming one of my favorite songs by the end of the year! Overall, I think this song is a promising start for this new Hello! Project group; it stands out and has a lot of punch to it. That's not something I can say about that other H!P group that was composed of Eggs- oh sorry, am I beginning to sound bitter again? My apologies! Now I'm interested to see what future songs Juice=Juice is going to get; I know Tsunku said he wanted to present them as a cool and sexy group but still. That's only an intention and who knows? Maybe the group's image will evolve over time, much like Morning Musume's did along with S/mileage's... um... de-evolution? I actually am kind of curious to see how Juice=Juice will continue handling the "cool and sexy" image but I'd also like it if they experimented with other styles, maybe something happier and lighter! Right now I feel like there are so many possibilities for this new group and Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne is just the start. And hopefully this is the start of a group that I'll really enjoy in Hello! Project. I love the lineup, I love the style and I love the potential. I know they're releasing another indies single, Samidare Bijo ga Samideru, but that's only going to be released at some H!P Kenshuusei event. It may leak but I doubt it's going to get too much limelight shined on it anyways. Still, if it does leak to the general public, I won't be complaining!

When it comes to the PV for Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishimenakya ne, I actually didn't think there would be one. I hadn't heard much about it. But much to my pleasant surprise, this song did get a PV? But is it a good PV? Or does it blow like S/mileage's current group chemistry? Let's find out!



Nice to see you again, set from Mano Erina's Onegai Dakara!


But who cares? Because Juice=Juice is in the house and they brought JAZZ HANDS! YEAH!


And now they're doing half of the walk like an Egyptian pose too!


I guess UFP was in a particularly cheap mood when shelling out the budget for this PV...


Seriously, look at that individual shot. That's about as barren a close-up you can get!


Look at Yuka's puppy dog eyes. She's adorable!


Oh, Karin. You poor dear. J-pop's formidable nemesis, the Evil Engrish, strikes again!


Snazzy dance move is snazzy! Just like the equally snazzy saxophone!


Borrowing dance moves from Perfume's Glitter?


I like your style, Juice=Juice!


I'll just say right now I'm starting to like Tomoko; not only can she sing, her expressions in this PV actually fit the song!


Pity you can't hug any real boy thanks to the dating restriction, huh girls?


I love Karin and all but man, she looks so awkward in this PV.


You know, even though this set is really barren from the obvious lack of budget, I do kind of like its simplicity.


It's a shame I didn't see/hear much of Akari in this PV. She looks really good on camera!


I think it's weird how in the dance shot, the girls look and move really confidently...


...but in the close-ups they look awkward as fuck.


Who's got spirit? JUICE=JUICE DOES! Who's got no spirit! S/MILEAGE!


Oooh, a move from DIY's Fore Fore ~Forest for Rest~ A nice choice!

I refrained from writing about this news when it came out not only because I was bogged down with final projects/papers/exams for school but also because I knew if I did, the post would just consist of me bitching and moaning about how Perfume had yet to tour in the United States. What? My envy is very capable of overcoming my rationality, especially when it ties into the techno group that I devote time to praising and blogging about at any chance possible. As you have all heard, Perfume, the most amazing J-pop group ever (in my eyes at least), is embarking on a second world tour. Unlike their first which was based entirely in Asia, the second one is based entirely in Europe; or three parts of Europe at least. England, France and Germany are all the lucky countries that Perfume will be gracing their presence with and fans around the world have been dancing for joy and throwing hurly burly parties. Now when I, an American fan who lives in The South, heard about the news that Perfume was going on another world tour after their first in Asia only to find out that they were touring in Europe, I was angry. Well, I think, "angry" is a bit too strong of a word to describe how I was feeling at that time; I think I was more... anguished. I'm a huge fan of Perfume in case you couldn't tell by the banner I always have of them and the sidebar with a picture of them and the monthly post in which I review one of their old PVs. Although I long ago came to terms with the fact that I was very likely never going to see Perfume in concert, the chance that I just might be able to, especially since their talks of internationally touring, has been tantalizing. And I've always been secretly crossing my fingers and hoping that by some convoluted miracle, I would be able to see the group that changed my life so much in concert. So predictably, when the announcement that Perfume would be touring in Europe came out, I was both ticked and saddened. It felt like Perfume was so close but so far away.

But, being the rational person I am, I got over it. For the most part. I'm very happy for whoever is able to get tickets to see Perfume live and I hope all you Europeans have the best time of your life watching the glorious techno trio perform. As much as I wish I could be there cheering with you all, I'll just stare out the window and continue scheming up ways for me to see Perfume live. Anyways, I'm not writing to talk about my own personal feelings about Perfume's 2nd World Tour but I do want to add in my own speculations and theories about it. After all, I'd never entertained the idea that Perfume would embark on another world tour; in hindsight, it seems inevitable but hey, hindsight's always 20/20. I guess I was just too busy shaking my head and laughing over the fact the their 1st World Tour only took place in Asia. Never did it occur to me that there would also be a 2nd World Tour. But now that it's been announced, I've began to wonder... how many more are to come? Is this going to be a series of world tours? And how many will there be? One for each continent? I actually think it would be kind of awesome if Perfume had a separate tour for each continent like one for Australia, one for North America, one for Antarctica- well, maybe not Antarctica. I doubt there are many penguins that are die-hard fans of Perfume. But one each continent, the group could go to some of the major cities on each one and perform; kind of what they're doing right now. Do I think it'll happen? I'm not sure. I'm really trying to figure out just how far Perfume plans to go with this "world tour" idea; do they literally mean that they're going everywhere around the world? All power to them, but I don't know how they would going to pull off a tour of that size and span. Still, Perfume is known for their love of conquering challenges (i.e. getting to Tokyo Dome).

But I will say I think a concert in the United States is very likely.

And no, I'm not just saying that as an American fan who would backflip out a window to see Perfume perform live. I'm saying that because even though the country I live in has a boatload of problems, it is still a very well-known country especially in terms of the music industry. Hell, the United States has the largest and most profitable music industry. With Perfume's talks of international expansion, I think performing in the US would open themselves up to new fans part of such a large music industry. A concert in the US, especially in an urban area like New York City or Los Angeles, could bring old fans together to cheer Perfume on, letting them know that there is a niche that the group can appeal to internationally even if Perfume doesn't ever reach mainstream international success. I think it would be a smart move to perform in the United States, especially since I know there are a lot of US-based Perfume fans, along with fans from other countries too! Of course, I also think performing in Europe is another smart marketing move especially since from what I've heard, Perfume's techno style would be more easily accepted in a European market. Perfume has even expressed a bit of interest and enthusiasm for performing in the US along with other international areas.  Honestly, I'd be very surprised if Perfume didn't do at least one concert in the United States. I mean hell, Kyarypamyupamyu's done an international tour and she's only been on the market for two years! I actually really like the locations Kyary went to for her tour and I think if Perfume had done what Kyary did and had just one international tour in a variety of countries, that would have worked just as well as spreading out this series of world tours. There wouldn't be such ambiguity about where Perfume was going to tour and how far they're planning to take this whole "world tour" idea.

I think I'm very 50/50 on the possibilities for the idea of multiple world tours with each tour focusing on a separate region of the world. But then again, we don't even know if that's a possibility; for all I know, Perfume could stop at the 2nd World Tour and just go back to performing in Japan, never to return to any other country. I hope they keep going but part of me is scratching my head at just what Perfume is aiming for with all these world tours. Like how many are they going to do? Where are they going to be? When are they going to be done? Keep in mind, the more world tours the girls embark, the longer it's gonna take. Not only do these world tours have to be fit around Perfume's already hectic performing schedule in their home country but it also has to be worked around their promotions for singles/albums/DVDs/tie-ins/etc. If Perfume does even announce a third-world tour, I doubt it'll happen this year. Their 2nd World Tour finishes up in July and I don't think that brief time between then and November (when end-of-year stuff starts happening) is going to be enough for Perfume to begin another world tour. Especially if they decide to release an album, which I am crossing my fingers and hoping that will happen. So say by early to mid-2014, Perfume goes on a 3rd World Tour; would Tour #3 be the one in which they finally go to the US? Or is that saved for Tour #5? And for that matter, just what regions of the US would Perfume even go to? The United States is effing huge and traveling to some parts of it is the equivalent of traveling to another country without all that passport fuss. I think what would be best for Perfume if they did decide to tour in parts of the US would be to perform in Los Angeles and New York City; they're both two big cities on two separate coasts. That way the east-coasters and west-coasters can have a shot at seeing Perfume without having to drive miles and miles and burn a ton of gas.

Personally, my ideal Perfume World Tour would be on in which they hit the four points of the United States: the West, the Midwest, the North and the South. Like I said, the US is huge and believe me, sometimes I really hate how huge it is. I pretty much know that there's a 99.999% chance that Perfume isn't going to get anywhere near the South; no cool artist ever does! Besides, I think they'd find the most success in urban areas such as New York City. It would actually be somewhat convenient for me if Perfume performed in New York City since I have relatives that live in an area in New Jersey that's close enough to NYC that I could take a train from Jersey to get there. That way I wouldn't have to worry about lodging, just transportation and finding a plane ticket! See, when you live in The Sticks, you have to find ways to improvise seeing your favorite artists, which is one of the reasons why the only concert I've ever been to is Hillary Duff. What? I was seven years old! There's also the matter of when would be a good time for Perfume to tour in the US; personally, the best time for me would be in the summer of 2014. Why the summer? Because 2014 is the year I finally graduate from high school and by summer, I'll have nothing to worry about. No final projects, no tests, no college applications, summer will be blissful. And I think seeing Perfume live would be a great graduation present, if I could convince my parents to let me see them. But then again, that's even if Perfume decides to perform in an area that I can actually get to. This is all really just speculation right now. And honestly, I don't really want to get my hopes up too much in case Perfume never does reach the United States. I hate to be a downer, but the only thing worse not being able to ever see Perfume live is believing that I will see them live when that never comes to fruition.

For now, I'd like to think that Europe isn't the final stop on Perfume's series of world tours. Hopefully, they'll go to other countries and other continents, particularly the USA. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed at the moment!

IT'S MAY! IT'S FINALLY MAY!


Why, you ask, am I so excited about the fact that April is over? BECAUSE SCHOOL IS ALMOST OUT! THAT'S WHY! And I'm serious, school for me is so close to letting out. My college classes end on May 7th and my one high school class ends on May 3rd. I'm almost done with all my final exams and projects and then glorious, burden-free summer lays ahead of me! In just a week, my junior year will be over and Nia will finally be a senior! A flipping senior! How crazy is that!? I'm so close I can almost taste it. Now obviously this means in the next week, I probably won't write much if anything at all but after this week and a bit of next week, it's smooth sailing for the Wonderland! Actually, this week has been particularly hellish for me so far since all my exams have been this week along with my final projects and papers being due. Hence, as you may have noticed, I wasn't able to write too much in April especially towards the latter part of last month since I had so much work to do. Hey, school comes before idol blogging. Sometimes I wish it was the other way around but I gotta do well in school. It's my only chance of actually getting out of the crapsack town I live in. Believe me, once this week is over and I'm out of school, things will start picking back up in the Wonderland again... big things... but I won't tell you specifically what for now! But here are some of the posts I intend on writing for this month and possibly June!

Awanai Tsumori no, Genki de ne Single Review
- Say hi to a Scandal review again, guys! Yeah yeah, I know like five of you readers actually give a shit about Scandal but I still like to review their music! And now that I've seen the PV for their latest song, Awanai Tsumori no, Genki de ne, I think it's about time I reviewed something else by them! Technically, I could actually just go ahead and review this single before its release date since the PV has been released along with the single's B-side. I might do that, but I have a huge list of things I need to review so it all depends on when I can get this done. Hopefully it'll be this month though...

The Derailment of Nia's Opinion Toward AKB48
- I'm not sure what I'm supposed to classify this post as. I guess it's an editorial but I do talk about Sayonara Crawl quite a bit in it so I guess it's also a news post? Kinda-sorta-ish? Whatever you want to call it, I think it's pretty clear just what this post is going to be about from the title. You see, over the past few months, my positive opinion of AKB48 has been on a decline. Why? Well, this post is going to tell you! It's pretty much just my own personal analysis of what has happened to make me go from really liking AKB48 to balancing on a constant line between liking the group and loathing it.

Early Senbatsu Predictions
- When I say early Senbatsu predictions, I'm talking about the prediction I intend to make after the preliminary results for AKB48's 5th Senbatsu elections drop. Hence I wouldn't expect this post until after May 22nd, when Sayonara Crawl is released. I always like to keep a close eye on the Senbatsu elections, especially to see if there are any interesting results and I do look forward to finding out what the prelims are. It gives me a nice idea of how the initial elections are turning out and it's fun to look back and see how different the final results are from the prelims!

Four Idol Blogs I Wish Were Still Around
-  With this post, I'll be going back to the past, to a time when I had no idol blog and all I did was follow them. You see, before I formed the Wonderland, I had a good list of idol blogs that I followed for a variety of reasons such as news, review, opinions, etc. And the four blogs I'm writing about in this post were some of my favorites; unfortunately, none of them have been active in a long time. So I thought I'd pay tribute to them and honor four idol blogs that have been long gone now. Think of it as kind of an... idol blog obituary! Egads, that's kind of a morbid way to put it though... oh well!

Invader Invader PV Review
- Meh, I'll probably review the latest from Kyarypamyupamyu. After all, her PVs usually have something interesting to offer whether it be giant fish, singing onions or LSD visuals. I actually wonder if this PV will have kind of an alien/sci-fi theme to it since the song is called Invader Invader. And I also do like what I've heard of the song. Knowing me, I'll probably relent and decide to review the PV for Invader Invader... that is if Perfume doesn't get in the way! Which they probably will because Perfume trumps Kyary in the Nia Review Policy Handbook. Still, I'm definitely looking forward to Kyary's next PV, even if I don't review it!

Koi no Love Sunshine Single Review
- Okay, honestly this single review's coming pretty late since Weather Girls doesn't release Koi no Love Sunshine until June. At the moment, I'm actually still on the fence about reviewing the PV or the single for Koi no Love Sunshine. Because on one hand, this is a summer PV and nothing's more fun than taking a look at this year's crop of idol summer PVs but on the other hand, I'm sure how much of a review I can generate with this song and PV. What I mean is, I can sum up my opinion of Koi no Love Sunshine in just a single review but I don't know, I might be able to make a PV review out of this one... we'll see!

Magic of Love PV Review/Single Review
- Do you know who good it feels to have the anticipation that Perfume is releasing another single so shortly after Mirai no Museum? Ah, I love it so much! And now that I've heard the entire song, now all I have to look forward to is the PV and listening to the overall single! I think the PV will be released fairly soon, probably in a week or two. And then a week or so later the entire single will come out and I'll get to re-examine Magic of Love along with the B-side, Handy Man! Anyways, you guys know who I get when Perfume is releasing something so I'm REALLY excited this month!

Sayonara Crawl PV Review
- What's that? The director of Heavy Rotation is directing the PV for Sayonara Crawl? Count me in for a review then! Yes, despite my declining positive opinion of AKB48 as a whole and especially their current musical output, I'm looking forward to seeing what the PV for Sayonara Crawl has to offer. I think the song is a bland piece of shit (but then again, I've said that about the past four AKB48 A-sides) but will the PV be able to salvage this forgettable summer track? I don't know but from what I've seen of the PV previews, I'm intrigued to see just how the final product is going to turn out.

Surprise Post that I Won't Give Details about
- Ohohoho, what kind of surprise could I possibly have in mind for you lovely readers? YOU SHALL NOT FIND OUT! MWAHAHAHA!!! But seriously, I don't want to give too much away about this little surprise post but here are some hints: it's nothing I have ever done before on the Wonderland. And guess what? It involves you! Yes, you! How, you ask, is this going to involve the readers of my humble little blog? Ohohoho, only time will tell! Stay tuned for this surprise post of mine because you guys are in for a treat!

Unmei PV Review
- The latest PV from Tokyo Girls' Style actually came out yesterday! What a pleasant surprise for me! I'm a fan of Tokyo Girls' Style's more mature... erm... style actually! I think they usually release some pretty good songs and I think the members of the group are very talented! You might as well call them SweetS 2.0 But I digress. Anyways, their latest single, Unmei/Wonderful Smile comes out on June 5th (the birthday of moi) so I might review the overall single too! Maybe. But right now I definitely have Unmei on my PV review list, because believe me I got some things I want to talk about with this PV...

Well, May has come and with it summer! Despite the fact that it's 64 degrees and pouring down rain while I'm writing this! Yep, I can just feel summer in the air. Well, I figured that nothing would be better to brighten up my day than to kick back and review a summer PV! And since this is my first summer PV review, I figured why not kick off the summer seasons and review a PV by a group that revolves around the weather itself?


That's right! The first summer PV I'm reviewing is Koi no Love Sunshine by Weather Girls! Hrm, Koi no Tenki Youhou, Koi no Tokimeki Chuuihou, Koi no Love Sunshine, is anyone else sensing a pattern here? What I find funny about Koi no Love Sunshine is that in English it translates to "Love Sunshine of Love." A little redundant, huh? Anyways, you all know that I'm a fan of Weather Girls for their insufferably energetic and catchy music. Is their music that creative? Not really but the overwhelming amount of energy put into each song is pretty irresistible and the group has an image that's slightly more... mature than your typical J-pop idol group. I actually feel like Weather Girls leans towards a more K-pop style of music and image, kind of like what Kara has. But I think Weather Girls has just a little more charm and personality in comparison to Kara! Anyways, although this Taiwanese group has only been around for a few months, I've enjoyed what they've released so far. Koi no Tenki Yohou was one of my favorite singles of 2012 and Koi no Tokimeki Chuuihou was pretty good too, especially the PV. So their third single, Koi no Love Sunshine, is their first summer single and the release date is set for June 5th. Why do I bring that up? Because that's my birthday!! Actually, there are a lot of singles I'm looking forward to that are coming out on my birthday, like Tokyo Girls' Style, MEG... Yeah, that's what happens when your birthday happens to fall on a Wednesday but every time I see an idol group's single release date as June 5th, I just get a little excited inside! But enough about my personal life; now that the full PV for Koi no Love Sunshine is out, I can finally review the entire song and see how it holds up as a summer single! And I can see if it measures up to the levels of insane and hyper energy Koi no Tenki Yohou and Koi no Tokimeki Chuuihou has!

A preview of Koi no Love Sunshine can be heard in the making-of video posted on the Weather Girls official Youtube channel and that was out for some time before I heard the full song. It's not a terribly long snippet; on that little video, all you can hear is the chorus. But what I'd heard so far I liked so I was expecting Koi no Love Sunshine to be another super-upbeat, hyper-pop song in the vein of the group's past two singles. And after hearing the full song... I guess you could say Koi no Love Sunshine is like Koi no Tenki Yohou or Koi no Tokimeki Chuuihou. I mean, they're both pop songs. That counts as similar, right? To my surprise, I am not that jazzed by Koi no Love Sunshine. Is it a bad song? No... but honestly, it's kind of bland. Not as bland as, say, Sayonara Crawl (but I'll rant about that later) but beyond the chorus, not much of Koi no Love Sunshine stands out. It's like that's the only part of the song that tries to be really energetic and full of life. The verses and the instrumentals are much more toned down in energy, almost to the point where it gets predictable. You know that little game I sometimes play, Guess the Note? Where I try to imagine in my head what note/phrase is coming next in a song? Well, Koi no Love Sunshine is one of those songs where you can pretty easily tell what note is coming next! I'm not saying the group's past two songs were innovative but Koi no Love Sunshine just feels more half-assed. Like I said earlier, the only part I really like about the song is the chorus but I feel like that's brought down by the uninteresting verses and energy of the rest of the song. It's really disappointing that Koi no Love Sunshine is such a boring song, especially since I had high hopes for it from my listen to the chorus. Oh well, I guess Weather Girls had to have a flop song eventually; it's just a shame that flop song has to be their summer song too...

I think the biggest criticism I have of Koi no Love Sunshine is not only is it a bland song, it's not a very good summer song either. Well... not to me anyways. I guess it would help if I explained what I look for in a summer song, especially since I'm going to be reviewing so many summer PVs in the coming months. Really, there's only one major aspect that I think makes a "good" summer song: it has to get me excited about summer. As a toiling student, I always look towards summer with hope and excitement because I know it's a time in which I can have fun and just let loose from my regular school environment. The perfect summer song for me is the kind of song that conveys that level of excitement and enthusiasm for summer. It's energetic, just like my outlook towards summer vacation is. One of my favorite summer songs is Go Go Summer! by Kara for that exact reason: because it connects with me on an emotional level. Ponytail to Shushu by AKB48 is another summer song that I like a lot for those same reasons. Even Everyday, Kachuusha which is basically Ponytail to Shushu 2011 Edition is a great summer song in my opinion. Songs like these are also why I have such a negative opinion of Sayonara Crawl like seriously I hate that song so- I'm sorry, am I branching off and ranting about AKB48 in other posts again? How rude of me! I've just got to learn to keep my ranting constrained to the appropriate posts, don't I? When I listen to Koi no Love Sunshine, I don't get excited for summer. I don't get that feeling as though a bunch of energy is going to burst out of my chest. I just listen to the song and it plays. There's not emotional connection I can make with Koi no Love Sunshine because it doesn't have the energy or appeal to be a good summer song. It's not the worst song I've ever heard but not the best either; very likely, Koi no Love Sunshine will just fade away with a myriad of other summer songs I don't give a shit about...

It is a shame that Koi no Love Sunshine isn't a very standout song to me but hey, maybe the PV can redeem it? After all, Weather Girls has gotten some decent PVs in the past! Then again, this is a summer PV so you know what I expect? Fanservice. Lots and lots of fanservice. Let's dive in! Get it? Dive? Eh heh 'cause it's summer and... I think the rain is getting to my head.


Well, the PV starts with a Weather Girl narrating in Japanese accompanied by text that I'll probably never attempt to translate.


And then the video cuts to Nuenue working hard to pay the bills at a snack bar!


Everything changes when a girl whose totally not a member of Weather Girls leaves a mysterious flyer on the front counter.


Dammit, not only did she cut in front of everyone else, she didn't even BUY anything!


We need you... to do what? Defeat giant robots? Are there gonna be giant robots in this PV!?


The city's in peril so there's only one group its citizens can turn to!


SAILOR WEATHER SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE!


Oh hai, doggy!


I like these summer outfits!


But they remind me of the ones Kara wore in Go Go Summer! for some reason...


Ugh, those stupid logos are blocking Hijon's adorable face!


Is the camerman just crouched on the ground kneeling upward to get these shots?


Oh, biking. Definitely never seen that in a summer PV before!


Nope.


Not at all.


Nuenue, stop making the loser sign and put your hand back on the handlebar before you crash that bike!


All right! The Mystery Machine- I mean the Weathermobile is here!


And I guess they abducted Nuenue?


A squad of scantily dressed sailor girls led by a very short man? Seems legit.


Da hell is this?


Ah, think of all the short jokes I could make with this screencap...


I will say, the visuals are nice in Koi no Love Sunshine. Very typical, pretty summer-type visuals.


Now it's time for fanservice! I mean... training for... uh... something. What are they even doing this for anyways?


-insert Baywatch theme here-


Yikes. Esse must not be cut out for Baywatch running, huh?


Well hey, my motto is there's nothing that brings people together like humiliation!


I guess Esse doesn't agree with me.


Uh... I am screencapping the same PV aren't I? Why the hell is this shot even there? It adds nothing to the PV and only provides for visual whiplash.


HA! Esse's gettin' a verbal smackdown! That's what she gets for denying my awesome assistance!


You know, it might be easier to create dramatic tension if your character wasn't wearing a fetishized sailor outfit.


Hey, Hijon, you think we'll ever get our own subplot in a Weather Girls PV?


So much for attempts at drama. It's party time!


You know what summer PVs need more of? Sweating! How come idols never sweat in summer PVs!?


Oh, that robot monster plot is still relevant? Okay then...


Well, that was wrapped up quickly! The power of teamwork solves everything!


See? Teamwork rules!


I know the L sign is referring to love but I always see it that loser sign I flashed all the time in middle school...


You know what this PV needs? Pirates. Lots and lots of pirates.


And then the PV ends with your typical summer pose. -yawn-


Oh yeah, and the coach guy pops up one more time. But no one really cares about him.

And there you have it, guys! The first summer PV screencap of 2013! YEAH! I'll throw a beach party to celebrate! Anyways, in hindsight, maybe I should have reviewed something I personally liked a little bit more as my first summer PV review of 2013. Ah well, I've planned out my review schedule already and I'm almost done writing this review anyways! So Koi no Love Sunshine is definitely a summer PV; it's got bright colors, beach settings, summer activities and motifs, all that stuff you'd find in your typical summer PV. But does the PV still manage to stand out on its own? Eh... not really. Well, there are definitely parts that do make me scratch my head and wonder why they were included in the video but for the most part, Koi no Love Sunshine is a pretty run-of-the-mill summer PV. It's got fanservice, the ocean, bikes, sunny dance shots, if you're just looking for a PV filled with seven hot girls, then this is your utopia. But for someone like me who has more -adjusts monocle- critical tastes, Koi no Love Sunshine is most definitely not the best summer PV I've ever seen. It's not even close. Before I get into my criticisms though, what did I like about the PV? Koi no Love Sunshine wasn't a terrible PV and I do admit the camera work was actually very well done. I liked that there were a bunch of different shots and scenes and outfits, all of them shot well too. While I don't think some of the scenes necessarily worked as scenes in the PV, I can't deny that there was a lot to look at. The location/scenery shots in particular were very nice to look at. I also liked the color aesthetic used in Koi no Love Sunshine, very summery and happy. It's definitely one of those PVs that you can tell it was filmed to be a summer PV just based on the lighting. Unfortunately, beyond those little bits, I can't point out much else that I really liked about Koi no Love Sunshine's PV.

Now let's dig into the stuff that I didn't like in this PV. Or one thing in particular: the story. The first time I watched Koi no Love Sunshine, I wasn't even sure if there was a story to follow but after screencapping the PV, I think I have an idea of what the director was trying to convey. Bear with me, because I couldn't tell just exactly what the plot of Koi no Love Sunshine was. Okay, the story begins with Nuenue working at a snack bar when a mysterious girl leaves a flyer at her stand talking about love robots or something like that. Nuenue leaves her job and starts biking home when she's picked up by the other members of Weather Girls in their signature retro yellow van. And no, it's not kidnapping. Apparently, Nuenue has been recruited by the very short coach/general/manager of the group to join them and fight against some unspecified evil. Look, it just involves giant robots taking over cities or some comic book plotline of that nature. Anyways, Nuenue dons a skimpy sailor uniform and joins the other Weather Girls in training to fight this evil. As the girls are training through a kinda-sorta montage, they jog through a shallow part of the ocean and Esse trips and falls into the water. Nuenue helps her up but for some reason, Esse shuns her assistance and that somehow makes them enemies now. The coach/general/manager later berates Esse for some reason that I can't read because I don't have time to learn Japanese and she later ponders her decision. Later on, the girls are mapping out some kind of plan to defeat the evil monsters we will never actually see when I think Nuenue offers an idea. Her idea gets good reception from the other girls and she and Esse finally make up. They then crush the model robot on their battle map, frolic around some beach locations, and then the PV just ends.

All right, to be fair, I think one of the reasons that I had such a hard time following this PV was because there was overlaying dialogue that was transcribed into Japanese. As you all know, I have little to no knowledge in the Japanese language, especially regarding the kanji/hiragana writing. But since I'm certain that majority of my readers also have little to no grasp of the language, then we can all just be clueless together, huh? Even if I could understand the captions in the PV, I should have to need them anyways to tell what's going on in the video. I firmly stand by the belief that a good PV can convey a story in a way that transcends language barriers. I had little to no idea what was going on in this PV. I think there was a storyline somewhere in the PV but it got lost amongst the numerous fanservice shots and lush imagery. It's a shame because what I saw of a storyline looked promising. The idea of Weather Girls being this crime-fighting group that has to save the world from hateful robots through love and friendship could make for a captivating story. But in this PV, we don't even get to see that; we just see the girls training for it (and I used the word "training" lightly because apart from a small montage, there's barely any of it in this PV). Most of the PV is just devoted to flattering angles and making the girls look as sexually appealing as possible. And yeah, I know that's pretty much the point of a summer PV but if you're gonna throw in these random story elements, why half-ass them. I feel like if the concepts in this PV were more thoroughly explored this might have been a better and more interesting PV. But instead these ideas are briefly thrown around and not elaborated on that much, making for a very muddle and confusing story. I almost wish that they hadn't been included in the PV and the director had opted for a more straight-up summer PV with no plot.

I think another big problem I found with Koi no Love Sunshine was the lack of expression from the girls themselves. What drew me in to Weather Girls was how expressive the members were and how over-the-top they acted on camera. It was amusing to watch, especially in Koi no Tokimeki Chuuihou. Their acting was partially made that PV so interesting, along with the compelling storyline. Koi no Love Sunshine lacks that earnest charm that the girls displayed in their first two PVs and opts for more... well, fanservice! I know, I know, it's a summer PV. What else did you expect, Nia? Well, I expected Weather Girls to be acting just as crazy and silly as they did in their last two PVs. Don't get me wrong there are a few moments where you get to see some of that (like any scenes with Hijon) and Nuenue is rather amusing a few parts. But mostly, the emphasis on the PV is less on the girls and more on the scenery and the fanservice. There are a lot of pandering shots and those sailor outfits only add to the fanservice aspect of this PV. If you're a fan because you're gung ho about the fanservice, then you'll enjoy this PV. Me, I don't. There's too much going on in this PV and too little of it is actually interesting. Although visually, it does look good, Koi no Love Sunshine doesn't have much else to offer other than the fanservice that you can find in any other summer PV that probably has a better concept and/or storyline. Still, I guess as a summer PV, Koi no Love Sunshine does its job. It has a lot of summer elements coupled with fanservice that has been done in many a summer idol PV. But it lacks charm and personality and also lacks in a strong storyline to drive the PV either. Koi no Love Sunshine is one of the messier summer PVs I've seen; maybe not as messy as S/mileage's Dot Bikini but still pretty cluttered.

Wow. Koi no Love Sunshine was kind of an underwhelming song and PV overall. Underwhelming enough that I only feel like giving it two and half out of five apples. Yeah, this definitely isn't going to be on of the standout summer PVs of 2012 for me. The song isn't energetic enough to stand out for me and the PV only consists of jumbled plotlines and gratuitous fanservice. So yeah, I guess I'm kicking off summer with a negative PV review... great. Well hey, I can get the boring stuff out of the way and save more interesting summer PVs for later, right? Right! There's a whole summer ahead of me and I can't wait to enjoy it!

I haven't given much love to Kikkawa Yuu lately...

But I can't help it if I've found her musical output to be dull and uninteresting lately! I said in my year-end recap for 2012 that one of the idols I'd lot interest in was Kikkawa Yuu. Why? Because Universal Music Japan turned her into a Vocaloid! I kid, I kid, but Kikka's music is a big part of why I haven't really been following her as much as I used to. What I like about Kikkawa Yuu that made me want to follow her solo music in the first place was her voice. I love Kikka's voice and I was happy that her talent was finally being put to good use via solo career. But after Koko Kara Hajimarunda! came out I just kind of... stopped caring about her releases. I'd actually thought about reviewing the PV for Koko Kara Hajimarunda! but other idol groups with more interesting releases came along and soon enough, it was the end of 2012 and I realized I hadn't reviewed any post-One for You! material from Kikka. I think the decision for Kikka to handle more electropop-type songs was what lead me to caring less about her music. I won't say I hate her electropop singles but they don't jazz me. So here we are in 2013 and I've decided that it's about time I took a look at what Kikkawa Yuu has been up to lately. And what a better way to do that than to review her second album, appropriately titled Two You. Ugh, even I cringe at how pun-tastic that title is. What I'm hoping is that maybe by giving her second album a listen, I'll be able to rekindle the enthusiasm I formerly possessed for Kikkawa Yuu as an idol. Maybe I'll finally revive some interest in her. Or I could just keep on forgetting about her. Either way, let's take a look at Two You and find out!

1. Dramatic

So opening the album is a Vocaloid-type song in the vein of Kikka's past singles like Koko Kara Hajimarunda! And I guess that makes sense; the guy who composed those songs also composed Dramatic! Yeah, I hope you like electropop because there are a lot of little bleeps and other electro effects in the introduction of the song. It is kind of cool, even though I've heard it before. I was a little worried that Kikka's voice was going to be edited like it was in Koko Kara Hajimarunda! but for the most part, her actual vocals remained untouched. And she sounds nice in Dramatic; her voice is strong and she doesn't revert to that nasally singing that's plagued a couple of her other songs. I wouldn't say Dramatic is really my idea of a dramatic song though... I guess when I think of a dramatic song, I just think of sweeping instrumentals and over the top melodies. But overall, I think Dramatic makes for a decent album opener.

My Rating:


2. Darling to Madonna

So the first A-side on the album is Darling to Madonna, the second A-side of the Two You era. And honestly, when this song came out, I wasn't that impressed. It just sounds like a rehash of Koko Kara Hajimarunda! to my ears. Well, that was last year and this is 2013! I didn't pay much mind to Darling to Madonna back in 2012 so I think going over it will be good for me! So... I don't think this is a terrible song but like I said, it sounds so similar to Koko Kara Hajimarunda! I do like though that Darling to Madonna has much less vocal editing than the piles and piles of Autotune Koko Kara Hajimarunda! had. And I guess the instrumental does sound pretty neat with all the electronic effects going on (even though they sound similar to that other song...). Darling to Madonna is a fun and upbeat song though and I can't deny that it does have energy so... I guess my verdict is it's a fairly nice-sounding song. Yeah.

My Rating:

The next new album track is this song with a very long title! Try saying it five times in a row! So my first impressions of this very lengthily-titled song was that it sounded a lot like an ending to some generic anime! Then again, that isn't necessarily bad since I do like Zutto Zutto Zutto Kimi ga Suki da! It has a very bouncy sound to it and I like the use of staccato notes in both the instrumental and the vocals. I think that gives the song a very fun and lighthearted tone to it! I feel like this is one of the more idol-y songs on Two You; I could actually see someone like Mano Erina or even Matsuura Aya performing this song. I feel like if I was in a bad mood, this wouldn't be a good song to listen to but when I'm feeling more energetic and hopeful about the future, I think I'd like listening to Zutto Zutto Kimi ga Suki da! Overall, I think it's a very fun song and while it may not be the most creative song ever, it still has a very earnestly happy feeling to it!

My Rating:


4. Renai Ebo

Helloooooo, best new track on the album! Yeah, I knew about halfway through my first listen of Renai Ebo that it was my favorite song on Two You. And why not? It's flipping awesome! Renai Ebo is a more pop-rock song that sounds like something you'd hear from Buono! or even Passpo. Actually, this song really sounds like it would fit in Passpo's discography; Renai Ebo sounds a lot like Natsuzora Hanabi but it's not so similar-sounding it's a straight-up rip-off! This is just a rocking song! There's a lot of guitar, Kikka's vocals have a lot of spirit to them, I just really love this song, okay? I feel like I had the same reaction towards Hako no Naka no Blue from her first album. My only gripe with Renai Ebo is that it's way too short; the song is barely three minutes long and I think this is a song that could have used a kickass rock bridge... Still, that's only a minimal complaint and doesn't lower my opinion of Renai Ebo!

My Rating:


5. Sekaijuu ni Kimi wa Hitori Dake

So the most recent A-side to be included on Two You is from Kikka's triple A-side released back in January. I guess the other two A-sides didn't make the cut because the producers really felt like they had to work in those acoustic covers. But I digress. So how does Sekaijuu ni Kimi wa Hitori Dake hold up? Well... I'm just gonna come out and say it: the opening of this song frightens me. Why? Because the song starts out with all these soft instrumentals and then suddenly Kikka's voice whispers "I LOVE YOU" in this really creepy voice that's just... it startles me, okay!? Beyond that, there's not really much I can talk about with Sekaijuu ni Kimi wa Hitori Dake. It's not a bad song but I don't think it's truly a standout song either. I mean, Kikka sings well in this song and the arrangement isn't bad but there's nothing about this song that puts it as a favorite of mine on the album. But I suppose it's an all right song!

My Rating:


6. Koko Kara Hajimarunda!

And so the oldest A-side on Two You is... Koko Kara Hajimarunda. Yay. Yep... as you can tell, I'm not a very huge fan of this song. Those of you who were able to get through my entire year-end post of 2012 might know that I had Koko Kara Hajimarunda! under my Worst Use of Autotune category for songs. And believe me, the Autotune isn't the only problem I have with this song, though it is one of the main problems. Koko Kara Hajimarunda! started the phase of singles and songs which were more electropop-oriented for Kikka, inadvertently started my decline in interest toward Kikka's music. While you all probably know I am a fan of electropop, I never liked Kikka taking an electropop direction with her music because she just doesn't have a voice for it. What I'm trying to say is I think her voice would work better in more vocally expressive genres. Koko Kara Hajimarunda! isn't a bad song, but I can't bring myself to love it.

My Rating:


7. To Be...

...or not to be. That is the question! This is the ballad of the album and you all know how particular I am about what I like in a ballad. So how does To Be... hold up? Well, I gotta say, I'm not really feeling it. The first misstep with To Be... is that it has a weak opening. Kikka pretty much singing acapella in the opening notes and her voice sounds awful. Well, by her standards, it sounds pretty bad. Kikka's voice can be very hit-or-miss and usually, I like the sound of her voice but every so often she'll switch to this really weak, almost nasally head voice. And for a ballad, that really doesn't help. I always think what carries a strong ballad is the vocals and how a singer expresses his or her feelings through those vocals. Kikka just sounds really soft and weak in this ballad and doesn't stand out. I wouldn't say To Be... is a terrible ballad by any means since it does have some nice parts but it doesn't stand out that much.

My Rating:


8. Kaze no Youna Melody

And after the ballad is thankfully, a much more upbeat and energetic song! It's not a terribly energetic song but after To Be... Kaze no Youna is refreshingly faster-paced. Still, this song didn't really grab me but it wasn't that bad either. It has a lot of the familiar electropop bleeps and effects you'd hear on Koko Kara Hajimarunda! Weird... it's almost as if all these songs were composed by the same person. I wonder if... can it be? It can! I did some digging around and found out that Dramatic, Darling to Madonna, Sekaijuu Hitori Kimi wa Hitori Dake, Koko Kara Haijmarunda! and Kaze no Youna Melody are all composed by the same person. What a twist! Honestly, that really shows with all these songs because frankly, they all sound very similar. Sure, the arrangements and keys are tweaked with each song but they all sound the same to me. So Kaze no Youna Melody just feels like a repeat of Koko Kara Hajimarunda! or Darling to Madonna.

My Rating:


9. Unmei

No, this Unmei is not the newest Tokyo Girls' Style song; we'll talk about that song later. This Unmei is a ballad! Yep, this album has another ballad. Because if there's anything this album needs, it's another ballad! I mean, that first was one just so invigorating. And Unmei makes To Be... sound like Secret Base ~Kimi ga Kureta ga Mono~. Unmei is probably my least favorite song on the album because it's really slow, even for a ballad the energy is at a low. The main problem with Unmei is that there's never a moment where the song really picks up, not even in the chorus. Never did I hear a build-up; the song pretty much stays at the same tempo and energy level and it's boring. I will say, Kikka's vocals sound a bit better but the arrangement of this ballad puts me to sleep. It doesn't help that the song is nearly six minutes long. Unmei is sort of what I have in mind when I picture a poorly-done ballad. This was such a snore on the album.

My Rating:


10. Twinkle Days

So the only B-side included on Two You is from Darling to Madonna! Twinkle Days sort of has that same electronic pop Vocaloid vibe that Darling to Madonna does and I thought it was a decent B-side. Then again, that makes sense; the guy who composed this song makes a lot of Vocaloid music. Anyways, I didn't like the heavily Autotuned opening notes to Twinkle Days but luckily, the Autotune used in this song doesn't reach Morning Musume's One Two Three levels. But again, I do feel like the Autotune is very gratuitous, especially when it's used in the verses and the third verse. Kikka's voice sounds fine in this song so why does it have to be Autotuned? Twinkle Days is a pretty cheerful and upbeat song and I admit, after the dreadful borefest that is Unmei, Twinkle Days is a refreshing change of pace. It's not my favorite Kikka song but of the B-sides from her latest singles, I don't mind Twinkle Days making it onto the album.

My Rating:


11. Sayonara Namida (Acoustic Version)

The final two tracks on Two You are just acoustic versions of already recorded. Personally, I'm not so sure I really wanted two songs I've already heard before over two new songs, but I do think it's nice Sayonara Namida (or some form of it) made it into one of Kikka's albums. Sayonara Namida is one of my favorite Kikka songs and I actually think it made a better A-side than the actual A-side Kikkake wa You! It's a very pretty song and Kikka's vocals are well-done. The acoustic version is naturally, much more raw on the instrumentals and is much softer and toned-down than the original. It's not a bad redo but I still prefer the original version and the energy it had. But Kikka's voice sounds nice and she does a good job carrying the song. The piano sounds nice, the vocals sound nice, Sayonara Namida is just a nice song! As far as acoustic versions go, Sayonara Namida is overall pretty decent!

My Rating:


12. Kikkake wa You! (Acoustic Version)

Speaking of already recorded songs, the next acoustic version on Two You is Kikkake wa You! I guess that's fitting since this was Kikka's song she debuted with. Then again, this isn't really a song I enjoy a lot but I don't think it's terrible either. But honestly, I don't think I would have picked Kikkake wa You! to get an acoustic version. It works better as a more energetic and upbeat song to me. The acoustic version just kind of sucks all the energy out and while it's not as deadbeat as Unmei (then again, nothing else on this album is) I actually think I like the original song a little bit better. I will say though, the acoustic version of Kikkake wa You! does offer a different take on the original song. It's much more raw and slow and I think Kikka's voice does sound better in the acoustic version. Still, if I had to pick between getting an acoustic version of Kikkake wa You! or a new album song, I'd pick the latter. Even if it was a song like Unmei.

My Rating:


The Verdict

Wow. That was... not a good album. Okay, let me elaborate: in comparison to One for You!, Two You is not a very good or interesting album. Even if I wasn't comparing it to Kikka's debut album, Two You still wouldn't hold up very well. Is it a terrible album? No. But there's not a lot of material in this album that really stands out, save for one or two new songs. Actually, one problem I had with this album was the lack of new songs. Okay, only half the album consisted of pre-recorded songs but of the other six new tracks, I only liked half of those. My favorite new track on the album was Renai Ebo and that was because it was the most differently-styled song. I also liked Zutto Zutto Zutto Kimi ga Suki da and Dramatic but I doubt either one of those songs will every become my uber-favorite Kikkawa Yuu songs. The other three songs ranged from forgettable to hatefully forgettable. The worst song on Two You was most definitely Unmei; it's long and low-energy and monotonous and displays all the qualities I find in a poorly-done ballad. To Be... and Kaze no Youna Melody just didn't stand out for me. At least the new songs on One for You! had variety. Two You doesn't. Not much anyways. About half the songs on the album have that Vocaloid-styled electropop music that Kikka used in Koko Kara Hajimarunda! and Darling to Madonna. As someone who wasn't a huge fan of that style for her, obviously that doesn't settle very well with me. If you are a fan of that style though, you might like this album a bit more than I did though. Still, Two You isn't bogged down with bad songs but it doesn't have a lot of really good songs either. A majority of the songs on this album just don't stand out. So while there aren't a lot of songs that make my blood boil on Two You, it's still a very vanilla album. It's a shame that Two You is such a lackluster follow-up to One for You! since in comparison, I realize just how much more interesting that album was.


Well, of five apples, Kikkawa Yuu's second album only gets two and half. I'm sorry, but this just wasn't a very stand-out album to me. Half the tracks felt like filler and there were only a few songs that I really enjoyed listening to. So I guess my streak of not giving a shit about Kikkawa Yuu will continue. I'll keep waiting for the day she releases something that grabs me again, but I'm not expecting it to be for awhile now...

Would you guys find it hard to believe that I still like AKB48?

I know, right? You'd think the way I bitch left and right in every review and news post regarding the gargantuan group in general, I fucking hate their guts. But no, somehow there is still a small portion of me that still likes them . That same portion is what keeps giving me hope that somehow they'll do something that just won't disappoint me so much. I admitted that I've been on somewhat of a downward spiral regarding AKB48, especially when it comes to their musical output. Combined with the dating scandals left and right, the graduations of members I actually care about, and the rise of girls whose names I can't even remember, nowadays I feel like my opinion in AKB48 as a whole ranges from disinterest to downright irritation. Even now I feel like I write about AKB48 more as an obligation, because I know a lot of readers follow them and they've never really been a group that I've wanted to put on my Review Blacklist. And before you ask about that, it's just a very small list of idol groups that I have no plans on ever talking about and/or reviewing. Back on topic, despite the fact that every time I bring up AKB48 it's either when I'm ranting about their latest single or ranting about their latest dating scandal, I still like AKB48. And that's why it tears me up so much that I've been gaining such a rapid disinterest in their musical output and the group as a whole. I think all the hard work the girls put into the group is what's preventing from completely dropping AKB48 but beyond that, there's not much about AKB48 that lures me in anymore. Their music has been sucking lately, girls have been graduating at the rate Natsuyaki Miyabi changes her hairstyle, and I've found myself to be increasingly disgusted by management. And now as I sit here, typing this and wishing that I didn't have all these conflicting emotions, I have to ask myself "How the hell did I get here?" It's not like I just sat up in bed one day and decided to start being harsh on AKB48.

So how? How on earth did I reach this point where I'm just disgusted and/or irritated by whatever move AKB48 and/or AKS makes? Believe me, I never intended to develop this mindset with AKB48. I've even tried to keep an open mind and give them a chance. I think one of the reasons why I've always tried to give AKB48 a chance is because I know a lot of international fans don't, especially within the H!P fandom. I used to be one of those international fans too. And there's nothing wrong by the way if you personally don't like AKB48, I'm just pointing it out. I even know a lot of idol bloggers who aren't that fond of AKB48. I think knowing that has always made me try really hard to keep an open mind to AKB48 and play the devil's advocate when criticisms of the group arose. After finally getting into them, this was an idol group that I never wanted to dislike. When I first opened the Wonderland, I tried my best to stand by AKB48 and my own opinions about them and for their first few singles, I reviewed things went well. I gave a mixed-to-positive review of Give Me Five! and a pretty positive review of Manatsu no Sounds good! And then everything went downhill with Gingham Check and Maeda Atsuko's graduation. I still find it strange that I've hated how all the post-Acchan singles have sounded... coincidence? Or something more? Whatever it is, all I know is that I've fallen into this rut with AKB48 where I have the unfortunate luck of being an idol blogger that reviews their music in a time where all their music is the epitome of music I hate. You know well what I'm talking about by this point: generic music. Or at least AKB48-style generic music. If there's something that drives me berserk, it's bland songs, songs that sound as though they have no effort put into them. And for the past several months, I feel like that has been literally the only style of music AKB48 has been covering on their A-sides.

I used to think that maybe it wasn't the music that was bad. Maybe it was my own opinions. Maybe I just needed to change my attitude about these "bland songs" I hated so much and get over it and roll with everyone else. But at that moment I realized something else: these bland songs aren't the ones that got me into AKB48. No way were Chance no Juban, Ue Kara Mariko, Gingham Check, Eien Pressure, So Long!, and Sayonara Crawl aren't the kinds of songs that got me into AKB48. Oogoe Diamond, Keibetsu Shiteita Aijou, Beginner, Iiwake Maybe, those are the songs that got me into AKB48. The songs that got me into AKB48 are the ones that had heart, that had clear effort put into them whether it be in the music or the lyrics. These were the songs that stood out on their own, that had such distinct sounds and styles that I would never be able to say "It's a good song but it sounds like this song or that one." And you know what's lacking that? Sayonara Crawl. Eien Pressure. All these songs that I have been bashing with a spiked baseball bat have been bad to my ears because they fail to stand out. There is nothing that makes them interesting, not even effort. It's just one half-assed song after another that's just bland and generic enough that it won't upset anyone. Besides, with a hardcore fanbase, why put effort into your songs when they'll just go ahead and drink the Kool Aid and buy five editions of the single anyways? And I know: AKB48 is an idol group. I'm not supposed to expect mind-blowingly amazing songs from an idol group, especially one that was made for more... visual appeal than the music itself. But does that really mean the songs have to be bland? If I wanted to see the quintessential bland idol group, I'd just listen to Super Girls every day. But what got me into AKB48 was that although yes, they sang cheesy pop songs, their music still had energy. It had life to it that made the songs enjoyable no matter how much bubblegum pop was layered onto it.

So here we are again. Back at another review of another song that I have the same opinion about that I did Gingham Check, UZA, Eien Pressure, So Long... If you want to know my opinion of Sayonara Crawl just copy and paste the text from my review of Eien Pressure but just replace the words "Eien Pressure" with "Sayonara Crawl." Look, I don't even have the fire to rant about how much I can't stand Sayonara Crawl because frankly, I'm tired of doing this. I'm tired of typing up yet another PV review of an AKB48 song that I have the same hateful opinion about. Yes, it can be fun to write a rant-y review of an idol group but to write five consecutive ones? It's not fun. It's repetitive. It's depressing. And I've had enough. I don't see why I should waste my time and laptop charge writing about a group that I'm gradually losing interest in. Yet even though I want to just up and stop reviewing AKB48 content... I can't. Not yet I suppose. Maybe part of me keeps holding out because I can't stop hoping that through some miracle, whatever they release next will actually be good. But part of me knows that at the bland streak the group's been on, I highly doubt it's breaking any time soon. So I've developed a plan: if AKB48 doesn't release a single that impresses me by the end of 2013, they go on the Review Blacklist. I won't review any of their 2014 content, I probably won't even talk about them that much. You've got roughly six months to impress me, Aki-P. And even though I know you probably don't give a shit about some American teenage girl with a laptop, part of me still hopes that you'll magically get your shit together and write a song that doesn't sound like the bland piles of asinine crap you've been cranking out lately. I know you're capable of more because I've heard better from you. Whatever happened to writing songs like 10nen Zakura and Iiwake Maybe? What about Flying Get?

So uh, yeah... I have a review or something to do, right?

Right, Sayonara Crawl. Hoo boy, let me just get warmed up and prepare my usual little rant about bland songs- actually, no. At the rate I'm going I might as well re-name the blog from Nia's Wonderland to Nia's Wonderland Where She Expresses How Much She Hates Bland Songs. I swear, if I start getting some reputation as that Perfume fangirl who really hates bland songs, I'm gonna... Sorry, I'm just procrastinating writing about Sayonara Crawl because in case you haven't figured it out yet, I really hate this song. Like, I hate it more than I did Eien Pressure. But not as much as So Long! although both songs have the same problem: the energy level is dead. So Long! still manages to sound more lifeless but as a summer song, Sayonara Crawl makes summer sound like one of the most dull and unexciting seasons of the year. It lacks the excitement and energy of AKB48's past three summer songs, especially in comparison to Ponytail to Shushu and Everyday Kachuusha. Both those songs are still pretty bland but at least they have energy and distinct melodies. Sayonara Crawl just sounds like a rehash of Eien Pressure; in fact, I even think those two songs are in the same key. I think if I were to compare the past five AKB48 A-sides that I've bashed, it would look like this: UZA>Gingham Check>Eien Pressure>Sayonara Crawl>So Long! So congratulations, Sayonara Crawl. You're one song above from being the worst AKB48 of the five consecutive singles I've been disappointed with so far. I'd get you a prize but that would only encourage Aki-P to write more bland songs. Yeah, I'm not feeling Sayonara Crawl. It's a bland song and as someone who has to repeatedly express how much she hates bland songs, this song is severely out of my line of interest. It's a shame because I think Sayonara Crawl had a lot of potential to be a really awesome summer song. Then again, I felt the same about all the bland songs from AKB48 that I've ranted about. I guess I should stop being so idealistic when it comes to AKB48, huh?

Perhaps there's still hope for Sayonara Crawl though. After all, the woman who directed the Heavy Rotation and Sugar Rush PVs also directed this one. Can she possibly bring some life to this unbearably dull and generic summer song? Well, with her love for eye-popping visuals and bright colors, I sure hoped so. Still, let's see how the end-results turned out.


Now an aquarium is a pretty cool area to open the PV with.


OMG, you're right Yuko! That shark does have the same smile that I do!!


Should I prepare the Jaws theme?


Well hey, so far these aquarium shots have been really neat! Maybe this PV will be kind of-


OH GOD NEVERMIND MY EYES.


I'm sorry but those bikinis are awful. Just... EW. The flowers... the colors... BLEGH!


I just can't get over how the designers could make an effing bikini look tacky and gross.


Well, I'll just have to get over it because we have girl-on-girl fanservice to screencap!


Wow, it's like I'm looking at the Heavy Rotation close-ups.


Except with more flowers and less lingerie.


And if there were ever a Captains smackdown, I guess Sayanee would come out on top! Poor Takamina...


Ah, there's nothing more fun than running across the beach for no reason!


Oh hey, yukatas. That's actually kind of clever for a summer PV...


But who cares because now all your cotton candy are belong to Jurina!


Oh, Paruru, you're so cute when you're trying to show emotion.


Eh, I don't think that's quite how you eat cotton candy...


Well, since those yukatas don't show nearly enough body, the PV cuts back to the dreadful bikinis!


I love how in the PV half the time the girls looks like they're trying not to capsize their floaties.


You know what this PV really needs? More flowers. There clearly aren't enough!


Seriously, I think there are more flowers in Sayonara Crawl than there are in Revolutionary Girl Utena!


Poor Takamina, always getting teased by her fellow teammates!


I wish there were more shots of them swimming...


Let me rephrase that: I wish there were less suggestive shots of them swimming.


You know, the girls don't look like they're having a lot of fun in these shots...


I mean, they're smiling and everything but it looks so forced.


Honestly, these shots are a lot more boring than they should be.


What's this? Random pieces of white furniture placed in a natural setting?


I'm getting Kasuka na Kaori flashbacks!!! God, I wish I was reviewing that now instead of this...


Soon, my apprentice, shall you rule AKB48.


Takamina clearly has no idea what the fuck she's reading and Sayanee's trying to cover up her confusion as well!


Brushing your teeth on the beach? Well, I hope you don't plan on rinsing with saltwater...


Dammit, Paruru why you always gotta be trying to emote!?


Okay, I take it back: those sunglasses are the most atrocious thing in this PV.


Yuck. They look like first-grade arts and crafts projects.


Man, think of all the craft stores the producers had to invade to obtain all these flowers...


The balloons were by far the most expressive idols in the PV.


That's right! Wave goodbye to any chances of breaking Manatsu no Sounds good! sales ever again!!! Mwahahahaha!!!!!!!

My, my, my, that was something. And by "something" I mean it was something that was not good. I'll admit, when I found out that Ninagawa Mika, the woman who did the PVs for Heavy Rotation and Sugar Rush was directing the PV for Sayonara Crawl, I got a little bit of a hope spot. I love both of those PVs for their bright, almost cartoonish imagery, the lush scenery, and the incorporation of a lot of eye-catching visuals. Both those PVs stand out for very different reasons (one being that one PV is ridiculously sexy while the other is not). I also liked the visuals I saw in the director's own movie, Helter Skelter which had that same look Heavy Rotation did but much more twisted and darker. Point is, I was hoping that Ninagawa would be able to put her own unique spin on the tired and done-to-death idol cliche that is the summer PV. Last year the director of Manatsu no Sounds good! managed to do so; surely someone with such a standout style of filmmaking would be able to project that onto Sayonara Crawl's PV. And in that aspect, I suppose the PV did deliver. Sayonara Crawl includes a variety of scenes beyond your simple beach shots and girl doing typical summer activities. It shows a variety of different scenes, not all of them featuring the girls in bikinis. And we'll get to those atrocious pieces of fabric in a minute. The PV also features the girls in yukatas during a nighttime beach scene where they're lighting sparklers and eating cotton candy and various scenes where they're uniform-styled white outfits ranging from close-ups to an aquarium to a daytime beach scene. The rest of the PV is devoted to the bikini shots that show the girls either in this gigantic pool or running on a beach. You kind of know what to expect if you've ever seen an AKB48 summer PV. Sayonara Crawl's PV had a lot of bright colors and felt very in the vein of Ninagawa Mika. So yay, this PV gets an okay from Nia, right? Surely she had to have enjoyed it somewhat, right?

Well, despite everything this PV had, I still found this PV to be rather underwhelming.

When I was watching the PV, I found myself to be surprisingly bored. At first the visuals were interesting but about halfway through the PV, they started to get repetitive. I actually think that's a huge problem with a lot of summer PVs; there's only so much you can do before it starts to get repetitive and cliched. My favorite summer PV from AKB48 is Everyday Kachuusha. By no means is the song too interesting (but it's a helluva lot better than the crap AKB48's been spewing these days) but the PV is what really stood out to me. Yes, it was still a summer PV but it was a summer PV with its own unique spin on it, with homages to AKB48's previous PVs. Combined with some other typical cliches, Everyday Kachuusha was entertaining for fans who enjoyed catching all the little nods and references to their past PVs. Even Manatsu no Sounds good! had a standout summer PV because of the gore and violence in certain scenes combined with the light innocence of the actual bikini scenes. And I'm not saying Manatsu was a good PV because believe me, it had some balancing issues but there were aspects of it that just grabbed me. The PV for Sayonara Crawl never really grabbed me. I think that's why I don't like Sayonara Crawl's PV that much; although it's very bright and colorful, when you boil down to everything, it's just your generic summer PV dressed up in a bunch of tacky flowers. Yeah, the imagery is very colorful and elaborate, but it just feels like a generic summer PV. And a generic summer PV isn't necessarily always bad if the girls in the PV manage to sell it. I'll say what I said in my Koi no Love Sunshine PV review: what I think makes for a good summer PV is one that gets me excited for summer. One way a PV can convey this is through the emotions that the girls express the PV; naturally, if the PV shows idols looking like they're genuinely having fun, then very likely, I'm going to get enthusiastic too. That's why I think NMB48's Nagiichi worked well as a summer PV.

In Sayonara Crawl, the girls flash smiles left and right and they smile and laugh but it doesn't feel genuine. In fact, it feels kind of forced. Of the nine or so girls who actively got a lot of screen time (and yeah, that's another problem this PV has but we'll get to that in a minute as well), only Takamina looked really truly expressive. My least favorite scenes in Sayonara Crawl were the scenes where the girls were floating in the pool because it just felt so fake. But I think I might have an idea as to why: surprisingly, it's not because the camera's focusing on fanservice but because of the floaties. Anyone who has tried to get on one of those buggers can testify how fucking hard it is to stay afloat on one of those, especially when you move around a lot. To look carefree and happy whilst trying to stay afloat on one of those things is a challenge, especially when you're also trying to look appealing. There were moments where the girls looked more strained than happy because of how they were moving around yet still trying to stay on their floaties. I feel like Sayonara Crawl is a PV more focused on the visuals and fanservice than the girls themselves; it's basically style over substance. And frankly, as someone who isn't in the demographic that watches summer PVs for the sex appeal, there's not a lot I really enjoy about this PV. Sure, the visuals are nice but the PV just moves as such a slow and lifeless pace, much like the song it accompanies. In a way, Sayonara Crawl is like a fancy cupcake topped with lavish icing and decorated with decadent sprinkles yet the cupcake itself tastes bland and insubstantial. It's a shame because I wanted Sayonara Crawl to be the kind of summer PV that got me excited about summer, the kind of PV that could even improve the song it's accompanying. But like a lot of AKB48-related things lately, it falls flat.

And don't even get me started on those god-awful flower bikinis. I never thought it was possible to botch a bikini that badly but AKB48 has proved me wrong! I guess they wanted to make the bikinis look unique but the end-result is hideous. The way the bikinis fit on the girls' bodies makes them look clunky and awkward. I know the bikini scenes from Manatsu no Sounds good! were gratuitous and unnecessary but at least the simple white bikinis of that PV actually looked nice. As you can tell from my screencap, there are a lot of flowers in Sayonara Crawl's PV so maybe they wanted to continue that theme with the flower bikinis but I personally think it's just a little too much. I do like the flower crowns though; even though they're very reminiscent of Heavy Rotation, they still look nice. I did catch a few small reference to Heavy Rotation but they're not completely in-your-face. I actually can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I like the PV for Heavy Rotation better than the PV for Sayonara Crawl. You heard me right: I like the PV with the girls prancing around in their underwear, frolicking in bathtubs and making out with each other over the summer PV with a bazillion flowers. 'Tis a strange time in the Wonderland indeed. Something you might also notice about Sayonara Crawl is that of the thirty-something girls in the Senbatsu only about nine or ten of them get a decent amount of screen time. Itano Tomomi and Shimazaki Haruka in particularly got a lot of time, but that makes sense. Tomochin's graduating and Paruru's Aki-P's new pet so I'm not surprised. Besides, Paruru looks pretty adorable in this PV being all emotionless and whatnot. I wish I could see more of Fujie Reina or Kawei Rina but I guess since they're not in regular Senbatsu, that ain't happening any time soon. So if you're favorite is, say, Kikuchi Ayaka, you'll have to look hard to spot her in this PV.


Overall, Sayonara Crawl gets two out of five apples, and believe me, that's a generous rating. The song is generic, but I guess I kind of expected it to be generic at this point. The PV is surprisingly forgettable and dull, especially since it came from the director of Heavy Rotation and Sugar Rush. I suppose if you're a perv looking for something to fap to, Sayonara Crawl's PV will suit you nicely. For me, I'm going to go stare at myself in the mirror and contemplate why I'm even a fan of AKB48 anymore. Happy summer, guys!

Oh god, how embarrassing is it to have your State of the Wonderland for July back-to-back with your State of the Wonderland for August?

But to be fair, I have legitimate reasons for why I literally posted nothing in July. I stated in my July State of the Wonderland, that I was going to be really busy with my summer activities. And I was! Rehearsal was very grueling and physically taxing! By the time I was done with practice, I was too tired physically and mentally to do much beyond stare at my computer. Not to mention the place I was staying at while doing said theatre program had no Wifi! I also did a lot of shopping... so yeah. Again, I mentioned all this before but I felt the need to mention it again. I didn't get home until July 30th and by then, July was nearly gone and so was my summer. About that... school starts in five days for me. You heard me: five days. As a student in a "non-traditional" school that means school starts ridiculously early for me. On the up side it ends ridiculously early too but right now, the end of school seems very far away. Speaking of school ending, I'm about to start my senior year so this is quite literally my last year of school. Then there's college and postgrad, but I'll worry about that when the time comes. As a senior, this is my last chance to get it right (get that reference?) and very soon, I'm going to be drowning in a boatload of college applications alongside my regular school work and extracurricular activities. Not to mention my schedule this semester is a bit more challenging than last semester. At the moment, I have no idea how things are going to pan out for me this semester, or how it'll affect The Wonderland. I hope I'll still be able to post frequently, but keep in mind that I'm probably going to be under a lot of stress and pressure in the following months. For now, here's an always-tentative schedule of the posts I'm working on for this month! Maybe I'll actually be able to post some of these drafts, hrm? Let's hope so!

A Cheapskate's Guide to Buying Idol Merch
- Yes, this editorial is still happening. I just have to find the drive and motivation to write it! Write now I've bulleted all the points I want to talk about in this editorial; I just have to elaborate on each of them. I'm also kind of playing around with the formatting for this post. With most editorials I do, it's just blocks and blocks of text with a picture or two thrown in for good measure. I might keep the bullet points for this editorial; I kind of like them and they work for what I'm writing about. Now all I have to do is write the damn thing and depending on my mood, that's either going to be a breeze or a royal pain...

Ai no Gundan/Wagamama Ki no Mama Ai no Joke Double PV Review
- When am I going to learn that doing these double PV reviews are unhealthy for my state of mind? Oh, I kid, I kid, but like with any double PV review, this is gonna take awhile. It requires double my input, and what usually tends to happen with double PV reviews is about the time I'm done screencapping the second PV, I'm too exhausted and end up half-assing the last part of the review. But nonetheless, I really want to talk about the first single post-Reina, and it's really more convenient to review these A-sides in one review. It feels... I don't know, more efficient? Neat? Tidy? Even if it drives me insane, I'm reviewing these in one post!

Kagen no Tsuki Single Review
- You know I just noticed... not a lot of idol bloggers review Scandal stuff, do they? Well not a lot of the idol bloggers I follow do... maybe I'm looking in the wrong places! I'm sure there are some great review blogs that cover Scandal's music! Much like with Scandal's past single, I'm reviewing this one because there's not much to talk about with the PV for Kagen no Tsuki. It's not a bad PV but I can't cover my opinions on it in like a paragraph. Besides, I wanna talk about the B-side for this single! It's actually really easy to review Scandal singles since they only tend to have two songs!

Kill Bill PV Review
- Okay, before you ask, no I am not referring to the movie Kill Bill. I'm not a movie review blog, even though I do have a wide and passionate love for film. So those of you who only listen to J-pop might be scratching your heads as to just what in the hell I'm reviewing. Well... I'm reviewing a K-pop song. Or, I'm reviewing the song and PV for a K-pop song. Because frankly, I probably wouldn't give Kill Bill the song two cents had I not watched the PV. Now that I have though, I have quite a few things to say about it, especially since I happen to be a Tarantino fan... but you'll have to wait til the review to see!

Koisuru Fortune Cookie PV and/or Single Review
- So last year I did a separate PV review and single review for Gingham Check, the Senbatsu single for AKB48. I'm contemplating if I should do that again for this year's Senbatsu single, Koisuru Fortune cookie. I haven't really talked much about the song, since I've been off the face of the planet. I've seen the short version of the PV though, and I have formed an opinion of the song. At the moment, I'm debating whether or not to review the short PV or wait to screencap and review the full one. Part of me also wants to review the single but hot damn, there's a lot of songs on it. Still on the fence about taking that on...

Mousou no Hawaii PV Review
- As we reach the end of summer, I'm scrambling to try and finish reviewing all the summer PVs on my agenda. For me, the end of August marks the end of summer. By September, I'm in school mood and just waiting for cooler weather to come. Until then, I've still got Mousou no Hawaii on my list, and I'll probably get to reviewing it as soon as possible, since it is a summer PV. Is it just me, or am I reviewing a lot more summer PVs this year than I did last year? Granted, I didn't review that many in 2012 but still, I feel like I've got more on my plate in 2013. No matter, I can work through it! That's what journalists do!

Romance no Tochuu/Watashi ga Iu Mae ni Dakishmenakya ne (Memorial Edit)/Samidare Bijo ga Samidareru (Memorial Edit Single Review

- Hot damn, is that a ridiculously long single title! Despite the fact that I've already given one of these three A-sides, I still want to look at the other two songs on Juice=Juice's (very packed) major debut single. I never got the chance to review Samidare Bijo ga Samidareru because I was fuming over subtitles in H!P PVs so now I'll finally get the chance to! I thought about just reviewing the PV for Romance no Tochuu but I feel like with Aina' departure and the other two A-sides on this single, I'll do better with a single review. Now all I have to do is wait for the full tracklist... and the covers... and the songs... and the PV... drat.

Satoumi Groups Idol Smackdown
- That's right, it's time for another Idol Smackdown! YEAH! I think Idol Smackdown is a thing with The Wonderland now... if I use it for a third post, then I think I can officially declare it a thing. This time instead of pitting Morning Musume A-sides together, I'll be pitting the Satoumi group songs together! Of course, things will be a little different this time around. For one thing: I'm actually setting this post up to be more of a comparison than three reviews slapped into one post. I'll probably use my Apple Rating System and declare one of three Satoumi songs winner of the Smackdown!

Savage Heaven Single Review
- What's this? It's B-b-b-b-bump.y! Yeah! This idol group is still around! I'm joking, of course they are! It's just been awhile since they released Cosmo no Hitomi and their last album so it's nice to see them releasing something again! I've always liked Bump.y, even if for reasons I can't explain. I'm still kind of torn between whether I'll review the single or PV for Savage Heaven, but I'm leaning towards reviewing the entire single. You see, I currently have all the songs on the single, and I think I can write about them. And I'm also in talks with Chiima of Okay! Musume Time about maybe doing some kind of collaboration review... we'll see!

The Story of How I Created a Perfume Fan
- Oh, what's this? Nia created a Perfume fan? How!? And no, I didn't have to pull a Dr. Frankenstein and literally create a Perfume fan. Anyways, you'll hear all the mushy gushy details when I finish this post. I've actually been a tad hesitant to write about this incident in my life, but the more I mulled it over, the more I realized there was a lot I could write about it. I almost want to call this post an editorial because the context of my story leaves a lot to talk about. I guess it all depends how the rest of the post pans out but for now I'm labeling this as a pseudo-editorial. Now all I need to do is write about it... Anyways, stay tuned, readers!

5. Chewing Gum

After Koi wa Toikimeki Chuuihou, the next few tracks are new tracks! Yayz! So Chewing Gum is a relatively short track (barely clocking over three minutes long), and it's one of the cutest tracks on the album. I don't know why, but it reminds me of Mickey, the one hit wonder from the 80s. I think it's the bounciness of the rhythm. Like Mickey, Chewing Gum also has the potential to get under my skin if I'm not in the right mood. As I've said before I can only handle so much peppy cuteness before I start feeling like my teeth are rotting, and Chewing Gum is a pretty cute song. You've got the repetitive chants in the instrumental bits, that "talking with style" that I love/hate, a lot of energy... the works. It does thrive as a pop song though, but Weather Girls seems to thrive on that cheesy pop sound in general. I don't know, I guess Chewing Gum is an all right song, but if I'm in a pissy mood, no way am I going to get near this song.

My Rating:


6. Kaminari Day

I listened to this song a couple of times trying to figure out just what problem I have with it before it finally hit me. Kaminari Day sounds exactly like an AKB48 song. Actually, I take that back. This sounds like a Not yet song. And they are an AKB48 unit, so yeah, it sounds exactly like an AKB48 song. Kaminari Day sounds like Pera Pera Perao and Suika Baby mixed together. Except it doesn't really have a hook unless you count the title drop at the beginning of the chorus. As a fan of Not yet, I'll admit Kaminari Day is an all right song, but I don't like it quite as much as the Not yet material it mirrors. I guess because Kaminari Day is teetering very closely to sounding generic. It's not quite there because the energy of the song saves it from reaching that point, but that doesn't mean it's my favorite song off the album. In fact, I'll probably skip Kaminari Day and just go listen to Suika Baby or Pera Pera Perao instead. Touch luck.

My Rating:


7. Cherry Cherry Boom Boom

Luckily, after the lackluster borefest that is Kaminari Day, we get to listen to Cherry Cherry Boom Boom! Despite the fact that Cherry Cherry Boom Boom sounds like a really bad stripper name, this song is my favorite off the album. Hell, I think it's my favorite Weather Girls song period. Even better than Koi no Tenki Yohou! Agh, where do I even start with what I like about this song... Well, I love the sound. It's like pop mixed in with Mideastern and rock and holy shit, I just love the instrumental of this song. There's this wonderful mesh of different sound styles all mixed into the song from the Mideastern riff during the Cherry Cherry Boom Boom repetition bits and the piano during the last chorus... This is such a cool song. I can't even properly convey through this review how awesome this song is. So whoever's reading this, do me a favor. Please listen to this song. Even if you don't listen to the rest of the album. I promise it's worth it.

My Rating:


8. Loving Pass ~Koi no Password~

So this is the only B-side that made the cut to the album, and I can't say I really miss the other two. I'm not exactly jumping up and down in anger that Tonight's Weather and Kimi Yohou didn't make it onto the album. Besides, Loving Pass ~Koi no Password~ is a pretty decent song. I mean, that creepy voice still opens the song, but Loving Pass ~Koi no Password~ is still a lot of fun to listen to! Maybe not quite as fun its A-side but I do like that it got on the album! I actually really like the arrangement of this song; there's a lot of diversity but it's doesn't feel as scattered as say, Koi wa Tokimeki Chuuihou's! I actually feel like Loving Pass ~Koi no Password~ has this almost... retro sound to it. Anyone else hear that? Like something out of the late sixties or early seventies. The song has this swinging feel to it which actually works very well. I guess the more I talk about it, I am glad that Loving Pass ~Koi no Password~ made it to the album!

My Rating:


9. Because of You -Hitori no Ame-

I swear to god, I have heard so many songs with "Because of You" in the title. I don't why... popular song title, I guess? Anyways, Because of You -Hitori no Ame- is a ballad. Big twist there, huh? Gives Shyamalan a run for his money. Okay, okay, sarcasm aside, how does Because of You -Hitori no Ame- fit on Nia's Scale of Ballad Forgettability? Well, while Because of You -Hitori no Ame- isn't Secret Base levels of memorable and passionate, it isn't Kono Machi (C-ute's version) levels of forgettable either. It's a pretty typical ballad, you've got your piano, your slow tempo, a few string melodies thrown into the instrumental, you know the schtick if you follow J-pop. But I still think Because of You -Hitori no Ame- still conveys a decent level of emotions and vocally, the girls of Weather Girls carry the song nicely. So is it an amazing ballad? By no means, but Because of You -Hitori no Ame- is still a nice song to listen to.

My Rating:


10. Namida no Ame

And closing out the album is what I thought was going to be a ballad but actually turned out to be a slightly more upbeat song. Which I don't mind because I'm never a huge fan of having two ballads back-to-back, especially at the end of the album. Unfortunately, Namida no Ame still isn't a very memorable song to go out on. I've listened to it a few times and I still can't remember much beyond a vague memory of the melody in the chorus. Look, I'm all for upbeat songs, but I prefer my upbeat songs to be really upbeat. Like head-bobbing, I-can-get-shit-done-with-this-kind-of-sound upbeat songs. Namida no Ame just one of those mildly happy-sounding songs that I probably won't remember in T-minus 2 days. I guess it's not a terrible song but the fact that the album ends on this song is underwhelming. I mean, if I listen to this album all the way through Namida no Ame is what I'm left with, and it's too weak of an album closer for me.

My Rating:


The Verdict

Weather Girls the album didn't have quite as many weather puns as I was anticipating... pity. Well anyways, how does the first album for Weather Girls hold up, hrm? I'll be honest, I think this album could have stood to have two or three more tracks. This was a relatively quick listen, only being ten tracks and all; I was able to listen to the entire album in roughly thirty-five minutes. I will say there was still a nice balance between old and new music with four songs from the group's past singles and six album songs. Of the four old songs, I have a pretty positive opinion of most of them, particularly Koi no Tenki Yohou. I still think it's the strongest A-side of this era for Weather Girls and one of the strongest tracks on the album. Koi wa Tokimeki Chuuihou is for the most part, an enjoyable song to listen to; same goes for Loving Pass ~Koi no Password~. Honestly, the only A-side on the album I could have done without is Koi no Love Sunshine, and even then I don't outright hate that song. So how do the new tracks hold up? As you might have gathered, my favorite new track is hands-down Cherry Cherry Boom Boom. Hell, that might be one of my favorite album songs I've reviewed this year. Unfortunately, none of the other album tracks quite live up to the high bar that Cherry Cherry Boom Boom rests at. Kaminari Day and Namida no Ame aren't terrible tracks but both are highly unoriginal and rather forgettable. Chewing Gum and Because of You -Hitori no Ame- are decent tracks but again, nothing particularly special. And then Koi no Lovebeam is an enjoyable listen but nowhere near as distinct or instantly catchy as Cherry Cherry Boom Boom. So in conclusion... Weather Girls is an all right album, but I feel like it could have been better. The album doesn't branch toward any new territory for Weather Girls, and I would have liked to see some. Still, if you're looking for some light and fluffy pop songs to tide you over, this album has it in droves. I highly doubt Weather Girls is going to be my favorite album of 2013 (and that's not just because Level 3 is coming out) but I wouldn't call this a terrible album either. For the most part, it does play to the strengths Weather Girls has as a group: sugary-sweet pop music and high-level energy.


Hence I have calculated a rating of apples on my handy-dandy Apple Rating System based on my own personal enjoyment of this album. I have decided to bequeath upon Weather Girls three and a half out of five apples. I've heard better debut albums but this one isn't the worst either. It's a safe album brimming with energetic and vibrant pop music that doesn't stray too far from the norm. And that's not always a bad thing.

What? Like you never heard that expression before? Please, every person born in the last twenty years used that comeback in elementary school to deal with asshat little boys taking over the jungle gym on the school playground!

Oh yeah, and uh... this is a Nogizaka46 review.


No, you have not been transported by mad scientists into an alternate dimension! Nia, that obstinate blogger who established very early on that she was unimpressed with that "rival" AKB48 group, is actually reviewing something by Nogizaka46! For those of you that hadn't fallen into the Wonderland when I was just starting out blogging back in 2012, I was very, very disappointed with Nogizaka46's debut. So much that I wrote an entire rant about it that you can find if you dig far enough into my archives. When the idea of a rival group first arose for AKB48, I was very interested. I mean, AKB48 was and still is, a very popular group, and it would be interesting to see how a self-proclaimed "rival group" could shake things up for such a renowned idol group. I mean, you could do so much with a rival group, like making them the antithesis of AKB48, giving them a completely different but awesome image, making said group a formidable opponent. I've always found the concept of rivalry to be very engaging when done well. And here's why Nogizaka46 flopped for me: they were just about the most un-rival-y rival group I'd ever laid eyes on. I knew that when I saw the PV for Guruguru Curtain, their debut song. To this day, I still think Guruguru Curtain is a bland, uninspired piece of drek on par with some of the A-sides that AKB48 has been cranking out recently. I think the PV is dull, the outfits god-awful, and the overall debut poorly handled. To say I was underwhelmed was an understatement. I was downright flabbergasted at just how twee and bland their debut song was. You all know how I have a chip on my shoulder the size of Canada when it comes to generic and bland idol songs. And so for most of 2012, Nogizaka46 continued to get bland song after bland song, accompanied by even blander PVs, ranging from the god-awful Oide Shampoo to the strange-looking Hashire! Bicycle. But just when I had pretty much given up on Nogizaka46 ever being a competent rival group, Seifuku no Mannequin came out. Unlike the group's previous three A-sides, this one was actually, to my surprise, decent sounding. And then, lo and behold, their next A-side wasn't bad either! Don't get me wrong, neither A-side was spectacular but they actually sounded like effort was put into them! Could it be that Nogizaka46 was actually on the road to musical redemption?

And so that brings me to Girl's Rule. Despite the fact that July is close to ending and August, along with school for many people, is approaching, Girl's Rule is what Nogizaka46 brought to the table for the melting pot of AKB/SKE/NMB summer songs that always come around this time of year. Now personally the "summer era" of AKS singles has never been my favorite, just because musically I find most of the summer songs very boring. I mean, the selling point of these summer songs is never the music anyways. Well... okay, the selling point of AKB48 and all its sister groups isn't exactly the music in general, but that especially applies to the summer songs! Anyone who has an inkling of how the AKS groups function knows that the summer songs are means to put all the girls in bikinis and have them dance on a beach or some other summery location. They're the "fanservice" singles so to speak, the ones that'll sell because they're visually marketed to that more perverted demographic of fans. Does that mean they're bad singles? Of course not. What I'm trying to get at is I never have particularly high expectations for the AKS summer singles, because I know the music isn't going to be the selling point of them. Most of the AKS summer songs are cheerful, upbeat and teetering on the thin line between annoyingly generic and tolerably generic. As a result, a lot of said summer songs tend to fade from my memory over time, and in the end I neither remember them as good songs or bad songs. The only AKS summer song that's managed to remain somewhat enjoyable in my mind is Everyday, Kachuusha, and even then, that's not my uber-favorite idol song ever made ever. Even though my outlook on Nogizaka46 had started to soften around the time Girl's Rule was released, I still wasn't exactly giving them much thought. When Chiima mentioned them in a conversation we were having and how she liked their newest song, I did end up deciding to watch the PV for Girl's Rule, just to see if it was remotely worth my attention.

To my surprise... it was.

But let me get one thing out of the way: Girl's Rule is not an amazing song. It's not even a great song. It isn't creative or innovative by idol standards and it fits into the mold of your typical summer song from an agency like AKS. You've got your brass-fueled opening, your verses building up to an upbeat and energetic chorus, a kinda-sorta catchy chorus, everything you'd expect to hear in a an AKB/SKE/NMB summer song. That being said... I still think Girl's Rule is a pretty decent song. I mean, it's a hell of a lot better song than Sayonara Crawl. Then again, a lot of other idol songs share that distinction, but I still think it's something worth noting. And Girl's Rule sounds a lot better than some of the group's first A-side. I think I even like Girl's Rule better than Bokura no Eureka! It might even be my favorite summer song from AKS this year, if Utsukushii Inazuma doesn't sweep in and claim that title. For some reason, Girl's Rule sounds a lot like Everyday, Kachuusha to my ears, which I think is one of the reasons why I can actually enjoying listening to the song. I feel like there's a lot more energy and effort put into this song than a lot of Nogizaka46's earlier A-sides and AKB48's current A-sides. The song isn't special but it's enjoyable to listen to and doesn't make me want to grab a spiked baseball bat and break something. There is one thing I wonder about the title for Girl's Rule: was the apostrophe necessary? Pardon me for going Grammar Nazi here but the apostrophe gives the "rule" in the title possessive meaning. I looked up the English translation to the lyrics of the song, and I feel like the title could have worked with or without the apostrophe. With the apostrophe, the song comes off as talking about the secret "rules" that girls abide by such as telling and keeping secrets, pointing out each other's flaws, crying over guys they fall in love with. But without the apostrophe, the song sounds like an upbeat ode to how flipping awesome girls are for all those reasons. Yeah, that's a little nitpicky, but I still wanted to at least touch on it. Either way, the lyrics of the song are fine, pretty typical from Aki-P but still nothing atrocious.

Overall, there's not really too much I can say about Girl's Rule without getting repetitive, so I'll end with this. If you're in the mood for a light, happy, and pleasantly energetic song for the summer, I think this song works well. For me, Girl's Rule was a surprisingly fun song to listen to, especially from a group that's done little to impress me since they were formed. So wow. Three A-sides in a row that I've actually kind of liked from Nogizaka46. Am I going crazy and finally starting to bend to semi-generic songs now!? I kid, I kid. I know I vent all the time about my berserk-button hatred towards bland idol songs, but there are actually a few times where it's done well. Unfortunately, that just doesn't happen very often! Anyways, I think from now on I'll keep a tentative eye on what Nogizaka46 does next. Three songs in a row that don't suck can't be a fluke. Who knows? Maybe the only way Nogizaka46 can get good songs is if AKB48 gets bad songs! Maybe there's some whole balance in the idol universe that Aki-P has to keep that involves those two groups and their musical outputs! Yeah, I'll bet AKS is just a front for some kind of cosmic horror! Totally makes sense, right guys? As for Nogizaka46, they've finally made it off my Review Blacklist (idol groups I have no plans of ever reviewing or talking about), but they're not quite in my good graces yet. If they can keep a streak of decent-sounding songs going for the rest of the year, then I just might develop a nicer opinion towards them. But we shall have to wait and see.

Now for the real test for Girl's Rule. Did the PV for it actually get decent looking outfits that don't look like potato sacks sewn during the Great Depression? Let's find out!


Wow, Nogizaka46 summed up summer in one screencap. Pretty impressive.


I love how ethereal this shot looks. The girls in it almost look like ghosts.


Ah, summer. A seasons filled with sunshine, joy, and late-night break-ins.


This has got to be the most non-fanservice-y pool scene I've ever seen in an idol PV...


Ooh, vintage camera!! I'm amazed she found one that functions. Most of them are too damaged to work properly.


Sparklers bring back quite the memories for me. Mostly of burnt fingers but still. Memories.


Did this baseball get thrown from Tokaikko Junjou???



No, this hair clip is not a MacGuffin. It will not show up again in this PV. I'm only screencapping it because it looks pretty. Obviously.


I hope you like Instagram filters, because hoo boy, this PV is full of them.


I've noticed idol PVs sure are fond of archery...


Like seriously. Of all sports to be featured in idol PVs...


Am I Katniss yet?



Ah, how whimsical! But in real life climbing a tree in a dress is a pain.


Wow, AKS finally got a hold of a guy for a summer PV who isn't Western!


Okay, the outfits for Girl's Rule aren't amazing...


...but they're a hell of a lot better than Oide Shampoo's. Eugh. Bad memories...


Gasp! A sign written in a language I can't speak! The horror!!!


I have a love/hate relationship with Instagram filters but the shots in this PV are so pretty.


So from what I can infer, the plot of this PV is basically the local pool is being shut down.


And now it's up to our plucky idols to keep it away from the evil CEO!


How will they do it? WITH A FUNDRAISER- I'm just kidding, this PV isn't that cliched.


Do companies always come in the middle of the night to take down local pools?


Damn, why couldn't the workers have been hot guys?



Ah, what could possibly go wrong with this very vague plan?


NOGIZAKA46 TO THE RESCUE! HUZZAH!!!


And then what ensues is a fight scene that was too blurry to be screencapped.


Just know that it ends with Mr. Businessman being pulled into the water by Flyer Girl.


And the song ends with Nogizaka46 posing the dance pose that every AKS group must be required to do at the end of their summer PVs.


A hose? Oh right, because clearly there isn't enough water at a pool.


And so the local pool is saved! Or at least I think it is...


I'm just going off this little screencap so... who knows? As far as I know, it got turned into a strip mall.


And even that hair clip I foreshadowed gets returned to its rightful owner, bringing this PV to a gosh-darn happy ending!

Wow. You guys are really going to think I've gone off the deep end when I say this but... I really love this PV. I know, I know, I'm saying that I love a PV from Nogizaka46. But I do! I mean, this is probably my favorite summer PV I've seen from AKS next to Bokura no Eureka. Much like with the accompanying song, I wasn't really going in expecting a lot for the PV to Girl's Rule. Yet I ended up surprisingly enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. So what to talk about first... what to talk about first... well, there's the plot of the PV. Honestly, the plot is probably the weakest aspect of the PV. I mean, it's not bad or anything but... it's pretty cliched. Or at least what I can gather of it is cliched. The main plot revolves around a pool, a local pool. Unfortunately, this local pool is going to be shut down and taken over by the evil corporate manager who's probably going to turn it into a freeway or whatever evil corporate managers do. But this pool isn't going down without a fight! Now it's up the plucky and determined young schoolgirls that make up the Nogizaka46 Senbatsu to fight back using any methods they can! Lead by Pixie Cut (look, I don't know any of the names of the Nogizaka46 girls) the girls pass out flyers, make announcements, all kinds of protest-y defense stuff! And finally a dramatic confrontation pans out at the pool. Pixie Cut angrily berates the evil corporate manager about how the pool shouldn't be shut down. Mr. Manager reiterates by throwing Pixie Cut's flyers into the pool because he's a mature adult and Pixie Cut desperately jumps into the water to retrieve her sinking flyers. And then, Camera Girl leaps from her hiding places and utters a battle cry from that spurs all the other Nogizaka46 girls into action! From there, a glorious battle involving pool equipment begins! Splashing left and right, workers pitted against idols, it's utter mayhem! And finally the climax occurs when Mr. Manager springs from nowhere to try and get rid of Camera Girl's camera. But Pixie Cut steps in and he gets thrown into the pool which I guess solves everyone's problems because the next scene shows all the girls happily chilling outside of a general store.

So what's the moral to be learned from this story, kids? If you're local pool is being shut down, the only way to prevent it is staging a violent battle in the dead of night at said pool.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention there's this subplot in the PV around these two girls who are on an archery team together. One girl, Katniss, is a competent archer but she's constantly getting overshadowed by this other girl, Hawkeye. Well, they exchange this Macguffin- I mean, hair clip and then it gets returned to Katniss at the end of the PV. Look, the story isn't really important and I just glazed over it during my screencap. And then I forgot to bring up that other very, very minimal subplot involving the guy that Pixie Cut may or may not have had the hots for. But hey, that story isn't exactly important to the overarching plot of the PV either. In fact, I think it was just included to give Pixie Cut and some other girls a little extra screen time. Like I said, the storyline isn't what really carries this PV. What does carry the PV though? The sheer atmosphere of it. Girl's Rule is a very nostalgic looking PV, almost like a series of moving snap shots recorded from a period of time long gone but still fondly remembered. It probably helps that Instagram-type filters frequently pop up in the PV. On the subject of that, Instagram filtering is constantly incorporated into this PV, but I actually think it works pretty well. Girl's Rule gives off a lot of waves of nostalgia. I really loved the shots that were filmed through the old camera; it's not a new technique but when done well and in the right environment, it looks really pretty. I love all the different shots and different locations used in the PV; they really add to the atmosphere of the PV. The setting reminded me very much of the podunk town I've live and grown up in, only my respective town isn't anywhere near as picturesque. Still, I love seeing shots of the girls walking down the road sitting outside of a store, etc. I said in an earlier summer PV review that what I looked for in a good summer single as a song and/or PV that could get me excited about summer. While Girl's Rule doesn't get me that excited about summer, it gets me nostalgic for summer. It's the kind of PV that makes me look back on my own summers and think about how amazing they were.

For that reason, I give the PV for Girl's Rule props. If there's one thing that can play to me even better than excitement, it's the nostalgia filter. Wow. I have to say, for a group I had little to no hope, Nogizaka46 has really risen up in my good graces. Whether this rise will continue... I hope it does! I feel like Nogizaka46 has the potential to be great; they just need good production values on their music and PVs. Videos like Girl's Rule and even Seifuku no Mannequin prove that they aren't a lost cause, along with the quality of their past three A-sides. The more I see from Nogizaka46, the more I want to like them. I want to believe that they have the potential to be a formidable sister group, maybe even a formidable rival to a group like AKB48. Only time will tell, but I really hope these high quality singles aren't just a convenient string of flukes. I suppose only time will tell but for now, I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that whatever Nogizaka46 releases next will be good. Girl's Rule... well... it rules! The song is an enjoyable listen, especially during the summer, but the PV is where this song really shines. I can easily say that it's one of my favorite summer PVs of 2013 thanks to the variety of shots along with the atmosphere and the tone. Girl's Rule is a very sweet, very pretty PV that I would highly recommend checking out, especially during this time of the year when summer is coming to a close for many people.


I will give Girl's Rule four and half out of five apples! Not a terribly difficult decision I would say. The song, while by no means being a masterpiece, is still very fun-sounding and has a nice amount of energy. The PV is what's worth checking out. I loved it a lot more than I thought I would and I think anyone who's ever felt nostalgic for summers past will love it too!

Annnyways, don't I have a single to review?

You know, for a long time, I've been trying to figure out just why I like Bump.y. I guess there are a variety of reasons, like the fact that they have a small group number and a stable lineup. I think the members blend well together and vocally, they're very nice sounding. But a lot of idol groups share that same distinction and I could care less about them. So what is it that sets Bump.y apart from them? I pondered and I pondered, and then I pondered some more as a ponderous pondering ponderer ponds. And then after realizing that I'm writing a blog post and not a Dr. Seuss story, it hit me. The reason why I like Bump.y is because I feel like they're an idol group that adapts very easily to change. In music, that is. The song that first got me into Bump.y was Gotta Getcha, a cover of some K-pop song. Despite the fact that I'm not a huge fan of K-pop, I really liked this song, and I thought that Bump.y handled K-pop pretty well. But they still brought their own J-pop style to it, which I liked a lot! So as I delved farther and farther into Bump.y's somewhat small discography, I began to notice that the group had a nice variety going for them. They tended to stick to a happier and upbeat style of music, but it was like they explored different levels of happiness, like the lowkey content of Voice or the ecstatic enthusiasm of Kiss!  I'd like to think that this is how Zone would have sounded like if they hadn't gone in the "idol band" direction so early on. They weren't by any means the most original idol group I'd ever encountered nor the most kaleidoscopic in terms of style, but nonetheless they tended to generally work pretty well with the songs that were given to them. However, despite the fact that I felt like Bump.y had a nice range of music, I'd never really seen them go in a darker route. A lot of their songs are pretty happy and upbeat, never really straying towards a more serious.

Until Savage Heaven, that is.

Covers/Outfits

Let me go ahead and say that I love the covers for Savage Heaven. All of them. The three covers for the three different editions of Savage Heaven all have the same concept. Said concept basically just features the girls posing and looking sinister whilst surrounded by mist under a certain color scheme. It's a simple idea, but sometimes it only takes the simplest of ideas to achieve success. What I think I really liked about these covers were the colors. There's basically just one shade for each of the three covers (blue for regular, pink for Limited A, and yellow for Limited B) but the way the lighting and shade is done for each cover really makes them stand out. I like how the smoke and shading gives off this very dark, almost intimidating edge and it even makes the girls of Bump.y look a lot more mature than they've looked in their past covers. Who would have thought you could possibly make adorable little Matsuri look that way? I also think what helps with the visual aesthetic of these covers is the fact that the outfits are black in white; it provides a nice contrast from the color scheme of the background, and doesn't make the covers look too tacky or busy. I always think going black-and-white for outfits is a pretty safe move; and the outfits Bump.y wears for each covers look really good. They're not jaw-droppingly spectacular or anything (you can only get so spectacular with normal-looking clothes) but I still think the girls were styled very well. Of the three covers, I think my favorite is the Regular edition (which is the one posted at the top of this review). I like the shade of blue used for the background; it gives off that aura of darkness I was talking about earlier. And the blue and black in this cover look striking together. Not to mention I like the way the members are set up in the cover. The Limited A version of this single also looks very good, but pink and black are two colors that almost always match well together. The only cover I'm kinda iffy about is Limited B, but that's probably just because I don't particularly care for the shade of yellow used in that cover. But that's getting nitpicky when really I don't have a lot of faults with the covers for Savage Heaven. They look nice!

Savage Heaven

I was very curious to hear what Savage Heaven would sound like. In the wake of all the happy summer songs being released this summer, Savage Heaven stuck out like an aristocrat in Wal Mart. The cover art indicated that Savage Heaven was going to be a darker, edgier song from Bump.y, something that I had yet to see from Bump.y. Naturally, I was very intrigued. It probably helps that I've always been rather drawn to more serious-sounding idol songs; I don't know why. I was just going over a lot of my favorite idol songs and noticed a lot of them are darker in tone. Maybe to reflect the dark pits of my soul, hrm? Anyways, Savage Heaven is a pretty dark sounding song so this song should have been right up my alley. Notice I said should not is. I wanted to like this song. Even before I'd heard the song, I wanted to like it. And when I first pulled up the music video for it and heard the opening chorus, I was pumped. And then... the rest of the song just kind of fell flat. I don't really know how to explain what happened. It was like at one point I was listening the song, excited to hear how it sounded, where it went musically. And by the time the song ended, the only impression I was left with was... a dull impression. By now, I have listened to Savage Heaven several times to try and figure out what's it's lacking that's preventing me from liking it. After much self-deliberation, I've come to the conclusion that what drags Savage Heaven down is... wait for it... wait for it... its energy! Big surprise there, huh? Let me explain. What I think makes an interesting song is the energy levels. And something that makes a song work is a continuous, rhythmical fluctuation of those energy levels. You have your buildups, your pitfalls, your rests, your climaxes, it's like books in music form! Savage Heaven is a song that only stays at one energy level throughout the entire listen. There were a few times, where I thought there was going to be a buildup to an explosion of energy, but the song felt... restrained. Like it wanted to be darker, grander, and edgier but just wasn't. And because Savage Heaven doesn't take any risks with energy level, the song is a lot less memorable than it should be.

All right, so I'm not a huge fan of the song. However, does the PV for Savage Heaven worth talking about? Actually, I was planning on doing a PV review for Savage Heaven instead of a single review. I'd even done a screencap! But then the entire single came out, and as I was already reviewing a ton of PVs as it is, I opted for a single review of Savage Heaven. Because honestly, there isn't that much about Savage Heaven's PV to talk about. I mean, there was enough for me to write a PV review, but barely. The PV for Savage Heaven is what you'd expect from any idol group that doesn't have enough money to create a grandiose, over-the-top PV akin to AKB48 or Momoiro Clover Z. You've got your dance shot, your close-ups, and your token "creative" shot which features the girls doing something other than dancing or staring into the camera. For Savage Heaven, this creative shot has the girls of Bump.y wandering around a cavern (which is actually a pretty cool location) with nothing but a small flashlight to guide the way. I will admit, I liked these shots a lot thanks to the lighting, or lack of it. These shots are very dark and shadowy; there are some parts where you can barely even see the girls. Then the cavern in the PV seems like it's almost trying to swallow each girl up. The girls look very small in a few shots, which only adds to the isolation projecting from the PV. Because other than the dance shot, the girls of Bump.y never interact with each other in this PV. Each girl is alone, trying to find her way out (or is it in?) or an unknown cavern, left to her own inner thoughts and demons whilst struggling to stay alive. In writing, I think that's a pretty cool premise. But the execution in Savage Heaven's PV is... well... not much happens. The girls wander, look pretty, and wave their flashlights around but that's pretty much it. Nothing else really advances the conflict forward; I almost think the director was trying to showcase what Limbo looked like instead of a Savage Heaven. Overall, the PV for Savage Heaven is decent but I think it could have been better.



Bump.y, as much as I like listening to your music, I can only give Savage Heaven three apples. Not a terrible rating by any means, but Savage Heaven just didn't impress me musically. It's a shame because I really wanted it to, but alas. Nothing can be done about it now. Next song!

Shoushi no Magic

Now the Savage Heaven was a dark song. Or it tried to be a dark song and how well it hit that mark is subjective. I was wondering if the rest of the single would carry that air of darkness Savage Heaven tried to convey. So I listened to Shoushi no Magic, the first of three B-sides for this singles, and found out that no, it was not! Shoushi no Magic is an upbeat, retro-sounding song. Think Cosmo no Hitomi, only slightly less... cosmic? To be honest, Shoushi no Magic actually reminds me of Kiss! I feel like both songs could blend into the 80s era of pop music, especially if Shoushi no Magic had some more synthesizer pumped into it! Now Kiss! is one of my favorite Bump.y songs so that must me that I think Shoushi no Magic is a pretty good song too, right? Well... eh. I don't hate this song, but I can't see myself bursting into my room and thinking "I have got to listen to Shoushi no Magic!" It's a nice-sounding song, but like with Savage Heaven, there's just something missing from it. This song almost sounds too nice. It has no punch, no bite. It's all sugar, no spice. Then again, there are songs like that which work very well. So where does Shoushi no Magic fall flat? Well, like Savage Heaven (are you seeing a pattern here?) what keeps Shoushi no Magic from being a really good song is the energy levels. I feel like Shoushi no Magic does try a little bit to shake things up energy-wise, but for the most part, the song sounds like one sweet, constant note. There's nothing that really changes about it, no buildups, no pitfalls. It's just a nice-sounding song, and that's it. I almost want to call Shoushi no Magic easy listening, because it's one of those songs that you can tune out pretty easily if you want to do other things. I guess personally I have nothing against these types of songs (hell, I love easy listening when I'm trying to do homework), but they're not exactly at the top of my playlist either. Shoushi no Magic is an all right song, but it's also a rather forgettable song. There's nothing that really makes it stand out, and very likely I'm not going to listen to it again, nor will I have the desire to any time soon.



Well, damn, I think I found Shoushi no Magic to be more underwhelming than Savage Heaven. I feel like Savage Heaven at least tried to do something. Shoushi no Magic is a sweet-sounding song, but it's not an interesting song. Hence I'm only giving it three apples. You can do better than this, Bump.y.

Romantic Maybe

Well hey, just because the first B-side on the single wasn't quite up to par, that doesn't have to apply to the second B-side, right? Fortunately, it doesn't! I have to admit when I first read the title for Romantic Maybe in kanji, my first thought was to AKB48's Iiwake Maybe. Even though the two titles translate to completely different meanings... Anyways, comparisons aside, does Romantic Maybe work as a decent B-side that distinguishes itself from the A-side? Yes! Do I think it fits with the single? Eh... kind of. What I think constitutes for a "perfect" single is when the A-side and the B-side compliment each other. Now that doesn't mean they have to sound the same, but in some way they have to sound like they belong on the same single. The concept is kind of hard for me to explain, especially since it's so subjective. It's not really something I can put into words; you just have to listen to an entire single and when the final seconds of the last song play out, you just get that chill and you realize, "Wow, that was a really strong single." Examples of what I find to be "perfect" singles are Perfume's Electro World, Brand-new Idol Society's Primal, and Momoiro Clover Z's Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku... eh... Mugen no Ai! And those are just to name a few. So why does Romantic Maybe not compliment Savage Heaven? For one thing, both songs are completely different in terms of theme. Savage Heaven is dark and moody while Romantic Maybe is perky and upbeat. I could honestly fathom Romantic Maybe being a B-side to Kiss! or Cosmo no Hitomi over Romantic Maybe. Because as a stand alone song, Romantic Maybe actually sounds really cute and adorable. It's got enough going on that it doesn't sound forgettable, and it excels in creating that lighthearted and happy tone that Bump.y always manages to get across with most of their music. In fact, of the four songs on this single, Romantic Maybe is probably my favorite. Actually, why couldn't this song have just been the A-side? That would have worked a lot better!



Well, while Romantic Maybe doesn't really fit with this single (but then again, none of these songs really mesh well together), it's still a pretty fun song to listen to. I really meant it when I said it's the best song off Savage Heaven! So I will give it four out of five apples.

Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix)

Ohoho, a remix of Cosmo no Hitomi? And an extended remix that happens to be 12 inches for some reason? What an interesting turn for this single. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't this the first Bump.y A-side to get any kind of remix? Well anyways, as you all probably know, I listen to a lot of electronic music, and not just Japanese electronic music. And in a genre where a majority of the instrumentals are achieved through electronic manipulation, you can bet that there are remixes galore of electronic songs, both official and fan made. For example, Nakata Yasutaka (Perfume's producer) produces some really freaking awesome remixes from Perfume edge (⊿-mix) to MEG's Kittenish -ynnk remix- to Saori@destiny's My Boy (NewVo styling mix). Bottom line is I've been pretty spoiled when it comes to song remixes. Why am I bringing this up now? Because compared to all those other remixes I just mentioned, Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix) sounds... mediocre. Hell, I think I've heard better fan mixes. This remix sounds very amateurish, especially when you think about what they really could have done to remix Cosmo no Hitomi. The original song is for the most, an idol pop song with some retro flair to it. But I feel like with the right editing, Cosmo no Hitomi could have been a very ethereal, almost futuristic sounding pop song. Ever listened to Mizuki Nana's Astrogation? That's what I think Cosmo no Hitomi could have sounded like with a remix done well. However, the Extended 12" Remix only comes halfway to reaching that level of quality. One of my biggest faults with the remix was the repetition of the vocals; already that's an effect I'm 50/50 on. When done well, it sounds freaking awesome. When done poorly, it sounds effing annoying. And believe me, there a lot of that vocal distortion in Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix). However, the song isn't a complete bomb. There are a lot of little bleeps and bloops thrown around the song's instrumental that actually work very well. Had there been more of that remixing in this remix, I might have liked Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix) better.



Unfortunately, there was not, and ultimately my final opinion of Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix) is very split. There are parts of the mix I like, but when I get to the parts of the mix I dislike, the song starts to drag. And believe me, when it drags, it drags. The song is 6 minutes long; if you can't really get into the song of that length, it plays a lot slower. Yeah, I can only give Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix) three apples.

The Verdict

So that was Savage Heaven. Huh. What a strange single this turned out to be. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to like this single. From the day I found out Bump.y was releasing Savage Heaven, I wanted with every fiber of my being to like this single. As I mentioned earlier, I have a soft spot for Bump.y, but honestly, I feel like overall, Savage Heaven was kind of a dud single. I don't know if that's because I built up too much momentum for it or because the songs combined into this single just didn't work together. Hell, even as a standalone songs, they didn't work very well. The only song that I really thought was a decent was Romantic Maybe, and even then, that's not the bestest idol song I've ever heard ever. Shoushi no Magic is forgettable, Cosmo no Hitomi (Extended 12" Remix) is all over the place, and Savage Heaven was flat-out underwhelming. Together, none of these songs blend together or transition smoothly from one to the other. If you'd made me listen to all these songs prior to knowing they were all on one single, I'd never guess it. Savage Heaven promised something dark, and it barely delivered that. As an A-side, it had no punch, no life to it. Just darkness. The other B-sides on this single were also lacking too, mainly in energy and just... standing out. Ugh, I feel like this single just needed a giant injection of Red Bull to pump up the energy. And I know, I know, I bitch constantly about "energy" and how it can be the one aspect of a song that saves it from being a bore. But dammit, this is what happens when you get a single that's dead in terms of energy! Even now I'm having a hard time trying to type out a final verdict of Savage Heaven because I'm starting to reach the point where I just keep writing, "It's boring" in different variations. Look, if you're looking for something as good as Kiss! or Gotta Getcha from Bump.y, you're not going to find it in the Savage Heaven single. Not by a long shot. To think I was so intrigued to see Bump.y go a darker route. Now I think I'd prefer if they just stick to their lighter roots.


Overall, Savage Heaven, only gets three apples from me. It's an okay single, and if you're a fan of Bump.y, you can probably at least dig the B-sides on this single. But personally, I get the feeling Savage Heaven is going to be one of those singles I just forget about by the end of 2013. Sorry Bump.y, but I think I'll just wait until your next single. Well... if you release your next single any time soon.