PV Reviews, current event ramble, etc.

I keep having so much going on in my life at the moment that I’m not keeping up with stuff I should. (I need to hop on #wotachat, probably, and let everyone know I’m not actually dead… just lacking the significant amounts of time I had a while back. I don’t think I’ve posted anything to IW in… quite a while, now.)

So, I’m just going to do a quick little rundown of some of the recent things going on in the idol world.

First up… new PVs! Released last week, Morning Musume’s Kimagure Princess, and released a few days ago, Berryz Koubou’s Ryuusei Boy, and released a few minutes ago, Berryz Koubou’s Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama.

KIMAGURE PRINCESS

For their 41st single, Morning Musume did something… a little different. I could not stand this the first time I heard it, and it’s very slowly growing on me except for the “chipmunk” bits. However, I do have to applaud an overall lessening of Reina. If anything, Eri is the one who dominates this track. It’s nice to see her get a bit more screen time as she is better than Reina in every way to me (except maybe consistent strength of voice in concert, and that’s still a toss-up).

As for the PV, I’m really honestly glad that Morning Musume is paring down a bit. For all that the dynamic was interesting when it was a large group, I think the shafting of 8th gen needs to stop, and whatever needs to happen for that, needs to happen. I don’t like Aika as an idol, and have issues with Linlin (she has great control, but poor tone, and I don’t like her look), but give me Junjun, please! The girl is extremely entertaining and is old enough to do the sexy thing and not look silly. Watch her in her cage scenes. Hell, watch her in any scene! The girl has confidence now that she didn’t have before and she makes it WORK.

As far as the dance, I actually kind of like it. Bits of it bother me… like the butt shake. Everyone does it differently. Gaki and Reina barely seem to move their butts, so they look awkward. Junjun does a little Time-Warp-esque hip shake. Linlin does a hip grind, which I feel probably works the best of any of them. I like the Russian-inspired moves the best (it takes me back to Souda! WE’RE ALIVE! and Balalaika), but it feels strange to have that type of dance with those outfits. Why black and white again? Why cowgirl outfits? Why holes in the pants? I generally like Morning Musume outfits, even some of the wackier concert ones, but these just feel uninspired. Sure, this is like Momusu’s 50th PV or something (what with the extra ones they’re made here and there), but when the only real originality comes in the fact that no one else would wear those outfits? Ouch.

I’m hoping the straight dance shot version of this PV will let me love it more. As it is, I just can’t quite stay in the mood to watch it to always get through the PV.

RYUUSEI BOY

Now, onto Berryz! My favorite group is doing a double A-side release again as their 21st single, and I’m excited for this PV, though I do have a slight preference for Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama as a song. Still, Ryuusei Boy is fun and fresh and obviously DANCE MAN.

My biggest complaints for this PV? Captain’s lack of solo/duet lines (now, granted, maybe she’s doing a lot of the back-up vocals and such, but still!) and… Miya.

I don’t know why, but it feels like lately Miya has been pulling back on her vocals. In the beginning of the song, she has a somewhat strong voice. It’s not Risako strong (like her tonal quality or not, she can command her lines when necessary), but it’s not out of place. As the song progresses, though, it seems like Miya’s voice is trying to go from powerful to sultry, and is losing too much along the way. I’ve noticed this same thing in concerts for Miya lately. During the Gag a capella bit from the last Berryz concert, Miyabi just seems subdued. I’d rather hear her just go for it, and sharpness and flatness be damned. I think it’s even seeping into her Buono! work a bit. Miya is a great performer, but I wonder what’s going on with her at the moment.

As for the dance, it seems they brought in a new choreographer? At least, that’s what I’ve heard. It seems it’s someone who’s good at “young” choreography. Since this is the Inazuma Eleven theme, I guess that’s a good thing, and seeing it? Yeah. It’s good. Berryz really show a lot of personality when they dance (in my opinion, a lot moreso than the other H!P groups) so even a simple dance like this can be very effective. I think the two who shine the most in this dance? Captain and Risako. Captain obviously finds the dance very easy, which is why she is there smiling like an absolutely captivating maniac. As for Risako, when was the last time she was this engaged in a PV? Ever? Look at her during her close-ups. She’s so energetic, the camera guy is having a hard time keeping her in frame. She’s being what could only be called… fierce. It’s wonderful.

Most of the girls look pretty fabulous here, too. The dress is nearly identical for everyone, but the girls pull it off in different ways. Momo and Miya look cute. Yurina and Chinami look elegant. Risako, Maasa and Captain look gorgeous.

Look at that! That is confidence, allure… and, pardon me, I’m drooling. That pose, too, is killer. Captain makes that look straight out of a fashion magazine. Heck, I want that dress now.

The green screen effects are simple, but effective. They’re in space. As Ryuusei means meteor, it makes sense. They’re zooming around through space… and fertilize a random egg to make the Earth… Well, it’s no more weird than monkeys, so we’ll go with it.

As far as the dance, I love that it draws parallels so many places. When they go into a line at about 30 seconds in, that’s pretty disco. At 50 seconds in, that spinning? It reminds me a bit of Momusu’s Nanchatte Renai, but done better. Seriously, watch Captain spin. That’s straight out of Sound of Music. The bit at 1:56 or so where they’re leaned over toward one another? Hi, Iroppoi Jirettai. Although, obviously Captain and Miya are cutest at that moment. :p There are other little bits, too, but best of all? There’s a lot of movement. On top of that, the angle is changing a lot, so even though it’s primarily dance bits and close-ups like a typical H!P PV, it still draws your eye around so it isn’t boring. Though, look through the dance choreography and see if you don’t agree that Chinami is the one most often left to do as little as possible. During both the spins and the lean over, Chinami’s just kind of standing there and doing something simple with her arms.

This is a relatively short PV, coming it at only 3:30, and it feels like it’s even shorter because it does all capture my attention. Now, I know from reading other people’s responses that a lot of people just don’t like this PV. Then again, they were probably expecting a store. I just wanted cute girls dancing and looking good, and got that and then some.

WATASHI NO MIRAI NO DANNA-SAMA

This was actually posted as I was typing this entry up, so might as well go ahead and review it, too.

First impression? MOMO, GTFO! Still, it’s interesting to see Berryz do something a little “unusual” that isn’t their… usual unusual?

The outfits are, like last single, the ones from the non-Inazuma A-side. It’s interesting to see that, like Ryuusei Boy, there’s hardly any difference between the outfits. Maybe they’re attempting to highlight the differences in the girls themselves? After all, that seems to be Tsunku’s favorite part of Berryz.

As for the dance… I’m not loving it yet. It’s a little stilted in parts, though maybe I’ll find later that it goes with the song? I don’t know… there’s a part where some of the girls are doing moves out of the Bangles’ Walk Like An Egyptian video. There’s a syncopated part of the dance where they’re all kind of standing in a line and moving their bodies around at different intervals.

The key bit of the PV that I do adore? Unusual for me… but I adore the close-up bits the most. For once, it’s not just photos against a wall. It’s sitting in different chairs (of course Momo is “too short” to be able to actually put her legs down) and looking gorgeous, and then playing with feathers. Some girls interact with them. Captain kicks her feet a bit and looks up like it’s snowing.

Chinami, in particular, looks really good in this outfit. Granted, it looks like the costume was based on Old West saloon showgirl outfits, but that doesn’t seem to be a here or there issue. All of the girls are wearing some kind of head piece. From the cover preview (a rather small picture) it seemed like only Maasa was wearing a hat, but several others are as well. Yurina is wearing a rather close-fitting beret that matches her hair color quite closely… this looks rather odd in a lot of her shots.

There is a bit of a story to this PV, too. They are, literally, searching for their future husband… with what seems to be a branch of the CELEB or NOT? computer from Fighting Pose. It seems to be having each guy it comes across try on the “hat” of husband.

Regardless of the bits of this that I don’t like all that much (the disjointed dance, the waiting room look of the main room they’re in, Momo’s stiff legs, the strange costumes, the fact that the flower in Captain’s hair just look like a bizarro poof when viewing her face from the front), I like that they’re cutting up almost constantly. Every time they go over to look to see if their (?) husband has been found yet, they’re giggling and laughing and pushing each other gently. At the end, several of them look several disappointed that a husband has not yet been found.

Also? Captain gets a solo line! I didn’t actually listen to the full preview that became available because I had been told multiple times that Captain was denied again, but that’s not the case. Granted, then Momo steals her follow-up “ne~e”, but that barely makes me want to kill her as I find that I don’t mind her so much in this PV.

So, pretty much… I like it. I think I prefer the Ryuusei Boy dance by quite a bit, but it’s really hard to beat the feathers. (Keep an eye out for all of the stuffed animal dogs that are scattered throughout the video, too.)

ONTO OTHER THINGS!

First, what the hell Berryz! Momo got the flu… and has now passed it to 4 other members of Berryz. Miya, Chinami, Maasa, and Captain are all sick now. Therefore, concerts and events for this weekend are being rescheduled, so they’ll have under pretty much Halloween to get better. When it was just Momo sick, I had high hopes that Captain would get to do her solo of VERY BEAUTY during the concerts that were supposed to happen tomorrow. No luck, though. Hugs and drugs to Berryz, guys. Someone make them rice porridge! (And tell Momo not to “spread the love” so much next time.)

H!P calendars are coming out, and so far? The response has been very MEH… until Berryz pictures started leaking. It seems it’s being done in the vein of when Buono! did the comic-book pics. It’s very colorful.

Graduations are happening this month. Erika? Meh. She’ll probably do a lot better as a model. Koharu? I’ll just hope she’s back soon. I liked her a lot as a soloist, so I’m glad to see her back to it, and like I said before, maybe it’ll open everything up a bit more for 8th gen. The next single will almost definitely be with an 8-nin lineup unless they secretly snuck in an audition, or decided one of the eggs would join Momusu. But, we should probably expect an audition soon. I’m actually quite looking forward to it!

There’s not really a whole lot else going on in the world of H!P, so that’s it for now. Get well soon, 5/7 of Berryz!