°C-ute – Shocking 5 (Sora to Kujira)
Shocking 5 ~ Album review (Jiriri Kiteru)
C-ute – Shocking 5 (Tasuki Daisuki Blog)
C-ute – Shocking 5 (Selective Hearing)

The new album from C-ute has been out for a little while now.  It hasn’t gone unnoticed that I haven’t seen/heard too much scuttlebutt over the new tracks.  After reading the following reviews I am beginning to understand why.  But if you are still wondering if you should hit the purchase button on your own shopping cart, here are a few opinions for your review…

Suffice it to say the new 5-nin version is not working for Jin, who has been disappointed with C-ute’s latest single releases.  So there is one strike.  As far as the new material Jin finds one song worthy of mention.  But the rest of the CD is given the seal of “disaster”, making me wonder if the 2 1/2 star rating was a bit too generous.

Arche-JoIyO has been reading a lot of negative reviews, but wonders if the Cd could really be “that bad”.  She rates each song individually, the final judgement being if the song makes it onto the Ipod (hehe).  I won’t give away how many songs made the cut, but overall she finds the album enjoyable.  At this point I’ll take “enjoyable” as the ultimate victory.

TD wonders if this album represents the group’s search for a new identity.  If you think about it, MoMusu, Berryz and Manoeri definitely have a consistent style (more or less).  But what about C-ute?  They seem to be all over the map lately.  And while she sees this effort as a bit “premature”, she appreciates the attempt to mature as a group.

Finally Greg is disappointed with the group he once said “gets the best songs in H!P”.  Perhaps this is an aberration.  Echoing Tasuki Daisuki, it could be that Tsunku is experimenting with a new dynamic.  If it doesn’t work, then back to the drawing board I guess.

I feel badly for C-ute, as it seems they haven’t yet recovered from the loss of Erika and Kanna.  I know they weren’t the front members of the group, but they were as much a part of the family dynamic as anyone.  Unlike some of these reviewers I have actually liked their recent singles, so perhaps I would give a more favorable review than these.  But the general consensus seems to be consistent across the board.

The good news is that like the bad haircut I recently got, nothing is permanent!  Tsunku and the girls can always follow this up with something new and different, and then everyone will declare C-ute to be awesome all over again.  And one other thing…

If this doesn’t speak to the benefit of adding new members, I don’t know what does!