Feb 15 2009
Berryz PV Ranking
Continuing with my “PV Ranking” series, it’s Berryz Kobou’s turn. From watching all of these PVs in order, it’s interesting to see how the Berrzy hierarchy (Risako>Momoko>Miyabi>Yurina>everyone else) was pretty well established from the get-go, and certainly cemented by their second single. I’m surprised that they’d single out the girls who they thought had the most appeal so early on. Another thing, Momoko never changes, ever. All the other girls look noticeably different from when they joined. Momoko’s voice has gotten better, but her face is still exactly the same. It’s kind of creepy. Finally, it’s weird for me to watch PVs with Maiha since she had already left by the time I started to really get interested in Berryz. Poor little thing…I think some girls just weren’t meant to be idols.
Okay, now for the list.
19. Munasawagi Scarlet- Why does one of the very best Berryz songs have their very worst PV? First, the dance shot backdrop is ugly orange hanging curtains with cardboard stars that clashes terribly with their costumes. Was there a “design a PV set” contest among local first graders or something? Then, the close up backgrounds are just green which A: Doesn’t fit the color scheme at all and B: Resembles a green screen that they forgot to add the CG to. Lastly, the makeup applying shots, the ultimate idol PV “we’re out of ideas” cop-out. Not to mention that if you winked right after putting on mascara like that you’d end up with black smears under your eyes.
18. Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance- Dressing up a bunch of 16 year olds in monkey suits is just embarrassing, and a huge blow to any hope Berryz have of being taken seriously as a group. The non-monkey suit parts of the PV are nothing to write home about either. They’re dancing in a room with a picture of a giant banana…and that’s it.
17. Nachuu koi wo yatteruu You Know
16. Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi
15. Happiness konfuku kangei
14. Koi no Jubaku
13. Madayade
12. Very Beauty
11. Special Generation
10. Piriri to yukou
9. 21ji Made no Cinderella
8. Anata nashi de ikete yukenai
7. Kokuhaku no Funsui Hiroba
6. Dakishimete Dakishimete
5. Fighting Pose wa date ja nai!
4. Warachaou yo Boyfriend- Hard to deny the utter cuteness of this one, especially when they’re fluttering and floating around with the balloons.
3. Gag 100kai bun aishite kudasai- I’m sensing a pattern here, Berryz matches their worst songs with their best PVs and visa-versa. The super-cute dance helps a lot, as do the rather random but funny painting scenes. I actually laughed out loud at the “oh no! the scene is ruined!” stills. Especially Chinami’s face.
2. Jiriri Kiteru- It’s not that elaborate a PV, but they really captured the mood of the song perfectly. The whole thing feels nightmarish, frantically running through a dark and indistinct landscape only the crash up against the impenetrable fence. It’s all metaphoric and stuff! Woot. The lighting effects are nice too.
1. Dschingis Khan- Again, it’s not my favorite song…but I’ll have to admit that it has a great PV. First, the part with the mini-wota is absolutely adorable. The parts with the girls moving in the hall are what really makes it awesome though. Hippie Momo with her sunglasses and acoustic guitar, Chinami’s awesome “running man” dance followed by “look! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!”, Captain on the keytar. Full of win from beginning to end.
Happy Valentine’s,
~Celestia~
Love Jiriri too. But one of my favourite things in the world (yes, I know a grand statement) is Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance Monkey Version. Amazing video in that it is one take, and the girls personalities absolutely SHINE through. The silly costumes, which are really really adorable, work like a a charm and watching them have such fun is incredibly infectious. Also watching Momoko fall is hilarious!!! Yeah, it is weird how she looks exactly the same as she did 7 years ago!
Jiriri Kiteru and Piriri To Yukou are totally mt favroites. From the girls pushing each other around on a bus to Saki crying…. it’s awesome.
The only thing that I was really surprised about was how low Very Beauty ended up. Why? I always thought that, although pretty straightforward, the beauty of the atmosphere and backgrounds more than made up for it.
[...] I thought I’d even up to Celestia’s Berryz PV Rankings, which interestingly, were not what I was thinking. In fact, to find that Koi No [...]
@Usa-chan,
Well, it had a pleasant atmosphere, but that was really all it had. There wasn’t really anything to hold my interest, but it’s just my personal opinion of course.
On re-watching… that’s kinda exactly how I felt. ^^’ I guess it depends on my attention span when I’m watching it- when I have nothing else distracting me, I could watch the PV over and over and still marvel at how great everyone looks. On nights like tonight… I click out after the first minute.