fields of maiZe and berryZ

Yesterday, High-King’s single ‘C\C (Cinderella Complex)’ was released in Japan and thus put up on Hello!Online. I have ordered my copy, and it will soon be on its way to me, so, much like Buono!’s ‘Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!’ I don’t feel guilty doing a review (not that I really feel guilty reviewing things I don’t own…).

But anyway, I haven’t spoken about this group as of yet, and so one of the first things I have to say is: High-King, I bow down to you!!! Seriously, I am loving this group so much it’s bordering on ridiculous. At work today, my bosses were both out for meetings, so I pulled out my iPod and had the a- and b-side of this single on repeat the entire day. I have now listened to both songs 47 times each… By the time I finish writing this post, that number will have increased…

So, I’m going to do this single review backwards, and I’m going to start it off with some comments on the c/w. Why, you ask? ‘Cause it’s a freakin’ fabulous song!

The C/W - Kioku no Meiru

I listened to it last night, not fully paying attention, because I was being distracted by the randomness that always ensues on wotachat*. In the midst of my lacking concentration, the only thing I really noticed was that it sounded like Yuuka had a fairly long solo, which was interesting to note, but not enough to take my attention away from the chat.

This morning, I put the two songs onto my iPod, and in my car on the way to work, I was able to really listen to “Kioku no Meiro” and I have to say that I was blown away!

The song starts out with a nice, mellow intro by Aichan. A strong bass and nifty guitars kick in once Reina starts singing… And then boom! The techno beat was surprising to me. I can’t think of any H!P release that sounds like this. I immediately pictured this being an anime theme. In particular, Gundam Seed came to mind. This song makes me think of TM Revolution or Tamaki Nami… Because of that, I went back and listened to those old Gundam Seed songs.

As I listened on, Eurobeat from Para Para Paradise came into my head. I can totally picture a fun para routine as the choreography to this song. The beat is sick and really gets your blood pumping. Come the instrumental portion, I’m hit with another association, and now I’m hearing “Through the Fire and Flame” by DragonForce… They do the ultimate difficulty song in Guitar Hero 3. The arpeggio’s in the guitar solo here are just sick! I really wish there was an instrumental track for this song, like Buono!’s singles which have instrumental tracks for both the a-side and b-side.

As for vocals in this song, what I’m loving here is that all the girls get a proper amount of lines! Maimi and Captain take the verses and sing them quite nicely. It’s nice to get more of a chance to hear Captain sing, because she really does have a pleasant voice. The pre-chorus features the other 3, and you get to hear Yuuka pretty well. She’s got a cutesy voice, but I don’t find it overly annoying, like I tend to with Momoko when she’s singing with Berryz, or Sayumi pretty much always. Aichan and Reina still have the most lines, from what I can gather (I haven’t counted them out or anything), but they’re not dominating the song like they do on C\C.

I got into the instrumental pretty happy with line distribution, and we get to the bridge and I hear Yuuka again… And she gets the ENTIRE bridge! At that point, I was blasted off my feet, figuratively (seeing as I was sitting down and driving…). I’m really liking this little girl. It will be interesting to see how she progresses in H!P now that she’s been highlighted in a group with some pretty influential H!P members.

As for Aichan and Reina in this song, I must say that I like Aichan’s performance in the song, but it’s no secret that I absolutely adore Aichan’s voice. Reina is fine, but her voice isn’t one of my H!P favourites.

Overall, this c/w is totally rocking! I know people often overlook the b-sides of singles, but this is definitely one you should NOT miss. I’ve uploaded the c/w into my radioblog, located in the top of the right sidebar. Go and give it a listen! It’s totally worth it!

The A-side - C\C (Cinderella Complex)

All my gushing over the c/w wasn’t meant to take away from the awesomeness of the a-side. I really love this song. This song is more of the R&B, Hip/hop genre (I know they’re 2 totally different genres… but meh).

The beat of this song fully rocks my socks. I was literally bouncing in my seat at work all day. I do wish I could dance without looking like an idiot, ’cause this is definitely a sexy hot body rolling dance-type song.

Vocally, Aichan and Reina dominate this song. Like I said for the c/w, I have no problem with Aichan doing so, because I love her voice. Reina on the other hand… Well, I could have done with a bit more Maimi… The other three girls do quite well with the lines that they’re given. The “Yes Yes Yo!” and whatnot bring me back to 7Air. I definitely enjoy the melody of this song, but really it’s the driving beat that makes this song for me.

The Dance Shot

A quick rundown of the PV: Aichan > Captain > Maimi > Reina > Yuuka.That list is based on the dance performances of each of the girls in this PV, and since this is the dance shot, I think it’s fair to break it down in such a manner.

It is completely understandable that Yuuka is at the bottom of the list here. Even though she’s been an H!P Egg since 2004, she has the least experience, and here she is in her first big break, being put up against the leaders/captain of H!P’s most successful groups and an additional member of the flagship group who has been in the spotlight from pretty much the moment she joined. That’s a lot to live up to. She actually does quite well with the choreography, but you can see how unrefined her dancing abilities are. Her moves just aren’t as smooth as the rest of the girls. She knows WHAT to do, but she doesn’t quite execute it with the precision of the other girls. Also, she looks like she’s trying to overcompensate for her lack of experience with a bit more energy, which makes her look like she looses her balance at moments. However, she would have blown Kaori out of the water, had Kaori ever tried to dance the choreography of this song.

Yuuka’s leg positions are awkward compared to the veterans Aichan and Reina.

Reina looks stiff through a few of the moves. Comparing her to Aichan is like comparing Rika to Aichan in Ribbon no Kishi. She’s not horrible, she’s just not as good. Also, Reina’s hair flying all over the place distracted me. Maimi’s hair’s up in a ponytail, so it’s not too noticeable when it flies, and the other girls have hats on… Reina, on the other hand, has her hair up in two pigtails, and the hair just flies everywhere.

Look at her hair…. LOL XD Also, what the heck is she driving that has a steering wheel that large?!

My main complaint with Maimi is that she’s a little too enthusiastic in her dancing. She dances well, but she’s hitting all the moves a little bit TOO hard. I watch the TV show ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and they often make the distinction between hard hip hop dancing versus soft hip hop dancing. And this song and the choreography to go with it looks better when hit with more finesse. However, Maimi can definitely move. We saw it in C-ute’s ‘Namida no Iro’ and we can see it here as well.

Look at how far Maimi’s head is thrown back. That can’t be comfortable…

Seriously, I’m just glad that Maimi didn’t hurt herself with the amount of attack she put into this dance

Captain was able to grasp the feel of this dance a little bit better than her C-ute counterpart. She’s got the moves down and she’s doesn’t overpower the dance. She moves smoothly throughout the dance and she’s definitely enjoyable to watch. She seemed to have a lot of problems with her vest though. It was like she spent most of the PV trying to get it to sit back on her shoulder. Also, I find that her body rolls aren’t as effective as Aichan and Maimi’s, possibly because she’s so short. She needs a little more height to give it more of a flowing look.

Captain’s vest was finicky through the PV

Now Aichan… What can I say about her in this dance shot? SHE WAS FREAKIN’ HOT!! She completely owns her hot pimpin’ hat! And she just goes through the choreography so effortlessly. Her body rolls are hot, her “Na na na” hip thrusts are hot, her voice is hot! Everything about Aichan in this PV is just so sexy! Work it girl! People go on and on about how Aichan has no personality… But man, when she performs, be it in a PV, a live or in concert, watch out! She knows what kind of attitude to bring during a performance. For me, that totally makes up for her awkwardness (which I find endearing most of the time, anyway) during interviews and while speaking in general.

Pimpin’ hat, pimpin’ pose, pimpin’ attitude. Aichan <3!!

So yeah… Basical, High-King is on my absolute total love list right now! I’d have to say it’s my favourite H!P single for the year thus far. I love the a-side of C-ute’s ‘Namida no Iro’ as well as the PV for it, but the c/w doesn’t do it for me. Buono!’s ‘Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!’ brings me a lot of Miya happiness, but it’s not my favourite Buono! single. So really, as an overall package, High-King is winning my H!P single race right now (Buono!’s ‘Café Buono!’ leads the way album-wise).

So as the post title says, High-King, I pledge my fealty to you, for you guys ROCK!

And on the topic of High Kings, another High King I pledge my fealty to is High King Peter Pevensie of Narnia, because he’s soooo friggin’ hot too!! (Just really wanted to get some William Moseley eyecandy in here, since it’s ridiculously un-related, yet still related [in my mind at least] to this post… XD)

SO HOT!

*dies*

Oh yea… I’m at 66 plays for each song now… XD

*Wotachat has been advertised on a number of my fellow bloggers’ blogs. Basically, a some of the International Wota community can be found there in the chatroom #wotachat on the IRC server Rizon. I am almost always there. All three IW admin, my fellow IW editor, and an IW advisor(Ray Mescallado, pengie, broomhead, wu-san, Julia) frequent the room, a few other IW contributers (Kirarin☆Snow ☃, Charmy☆Renai, Henkka, IndigoSkies and craig) as well as authors of blogs covered by IW (Second Blossoming, CatchFiveBats, Misa, Amimi, amyrulez and johpan). In addition, we have some non-bloggers (wota and non-wota alike) who come in as well. Feel free to drop by and visit us!

EDIT: For those who aren’t familiar with IRC, you can use an IRC client such as mIRC (windows) or x-chat (mac), or if you don’t want to go with a client, you can sign in through web-based IRC, ex. mibbit. Like I mentioned above, the server is Rizon.net, the channel is #wotachat. ^_^

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 at 1:41 am and is filed under H!P Eggs, Hello! Project, Non-Japanese, Review, Single, Wonderful Hearts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.