Well, this was a predictable one eh?
I’m guessing the general consensus is that November was a pretty damn strong month for H!P and TNX releases. What was your favorite?
My vote is going to have to wait, Berryz is the only one I’ve heard. I admit to being hopelessly lazy.
That’s right, the new Ikimono Gakari PV Kimagure Romantic was just uploaded on JPopSuki and after the slightly lackluster Planetarium (review pending), we’ve gotten ourselves another FUCKING AWESOME Iki song and I think many will agree what is also their most entertaining PV to date! Check it out:
Awesome! I was afraid it was going to be a boring Christmas song but thankfully Iki didn’t disappoint, instead giving us something that has potential for quickly becoming my top favorite by them. Something completely different in terms of both the song and the PV as compared to Planetarium, we’ve gotten another high-tempo Iki rocker complete with a YMCK-produced Nintendo influenced look. And what the hell, there’s even a dance choreography happening. What the hell is going on here?!
Hotaka and Yoshiki are there of course and are much more involved than previously, just rocking out in whichever outfits they’ve got on. Hotaka is such a cool fucker with his hair and his awesomely awkward dance moves, and Yoshiki gets mad props from me for actually writing most of the songs. I’ve said it loads of times before and I’ll say it again… Kiyoe is so gosh darn CUTE. I can’t get over her cuteness! I mean fuck, it’s one thing to be cute but never before has she actually made me laugh out loud several times due to how adorable she is!
I love her. I really do. And I love Ikimono Gakari.
Erina Mano - Lucky Aura
Release date: 2008/10/05
Tracklisting:
1. Lucky Aura
2. Lucky Aura (instrumental)
Manoeri is such a cutie, man. SUCH a cutie. I love her to death. Manopiano was cute beyond words and a pretty addictive song once you got into it. Lucky Aura feels like a natural progression to Manopiano. We get much of the same this time around too: a solid enough song, Manoeri’s piano playing and her ever-so-lovely nice and depressed, overly simplified vocals. What’s there not to love, man?
Interestingly enough I’ll have to admit I actually quite prefer Manopiano over this, even if the majority of people seem to disagree with me on that, thinking Manopiano was unlistenable tripe. Ah, well. I think Lucky Aura just sounds too messy and unorganized, as if missing a solid idea… though I guess it’s kind of there. If you listen to the instrumental, there’s not really a proper hook there to hang onto… or much anything else for that matter. Manopiano is the complete opposite. The idea of the song shines brightly and the hook is actually the first thing you hear in the song, in the form of that lovely little piano melody which is indeed what I always find myself humming after listening to this. But most of all, what I really appreciate in Manopiano is its honesty, you know? It’s a sincere, pure little ballad, and every line Manoeri delivers to us in her typical anaemic (but loving!) fashion seems like a present straight from the heart, especially so for the prolonged aitai yo’s. Fuck you man, you aren’t going to accept her present? You’ll break her heart! You better cherish it you bastard, it’s a present from Manoeri to you.
I still say it was an excellent call on Tsunku’s part to make Manoeri into a solo artist, though I would dare suggest that putting her into Morning Musume would’ve been even better. She definitely has what it takes to be a solo artist, being very cute and idol-like, and just shy enough to be completely charming. It helps that her looks are reminiscent of Maki Goto too! I guess the issue most people have with her are her vocal abilities. Like I just said, she certainly doesn’t do anything fancy as far as that goes. And you’re right, she can barely even carry a tune. But hell, she can stay on note for the whole song and that’s more than you can say for many of these youngsters. And obviously she’s musically inclined too, what with being a competent enough piano player to be able to confidently play it live in front of thousands of people, most of whom aren’t there to see her.
But really, this all just reminds me so much of the aforementioned Goto. Back when she joined, she was just as useless of a vocalist. Anyone still remember her back in LOVE Machine, Koi no Dance Site, Akai Nikkichou or even her first couple of solo singles? She was almost painfully unskilled, but with time she grew to be a pretty excellent vocalist in her own right, wouldn’t you say? A good example of that is the last single she released while in H!P, Secret. She sounds amazing there and she demonstrates just how immense her growth since 1999 has been. I’m sure with time and experience Manoeri will be able to achieve just the same level of awesomeness. This is kind of the reason why I’m not sure if throwing her into Momusu would’ve been better… I wonder if she can get the necessary experience as a solo act? Well, so far it’s looking good because as least she’s been getting an opportunity to sing at recent concerts, usually doing the opening number. I don’t know how well the wota accept or endorse her over there, but fuck ‘em. They’ll see. Just imagine Manopiano or Lucky Aura in a few years’ time and how her vocals on them will sound at that time.
Rating: 6+ / 10
Milky Way - Tan Tan Taan!
Release date: 2008/10/29
Tracklisting:
1. Tan Tan Taan!
2. Gamusharara!
3. Tan Tan Taan! (instrumental)
Same deal as with Manoeri. Not much has changed since Anataboshi. Perhaps even alarmingly so; they seem to have a bit of Buono! syndrome going on (that is, singles that are fucking identical to each other) though not quite as severe. I mean Tan Tan Taan! and Anataboshi don’t really sound similar, but there’s certain elements you could say they’ve scattered all over both tracks. What is it with the need for anime songs to sound similar if they’re done by the same artist?
Anyway, I can’t help but admit I’m disappointed. Personally I thought Anataboshi was fucking AWESOME to be honest! It was wild and all over the place, as well as very unique in the H!P catalogue. Haha, that crackwhore Koharu fit that one flawlessly! It was as if made for her! Irish fucking… tapdancing thing going on, bagpipes, star tambourines… goddamn it was awesome! Nearly getting cold shivers here just thinking about it, I better listen to it. Here the crackwhore sounds only as if going through severe withdrawal. You look at the PV and you can almost see the sweatdrops of nervousness dripping off her forehead. She can hardly wait until it’s over with so she can get her fix from her dealer. Luckily they were smart enough to keep the star tambourines along for this song too, but unfortunately that’s where the similarities of awesomeness with Anataboshi end. The song is a little on the slow side, unhurriedly plodding along towards the next inevitable “TAN TAN TAAAAAN!” The chorus is kind of sweet and cutesy, certainly sounding very “anime.” I guess that’s good since that’s what it was meant for.
Now, Gamusharara is a clear step up! This one is pretty kickass to be honest and almost enough so for me to forgive whoever was responsible for Tan Tan Taan! not being awesome like it should have. I’m really digging the instrumentation even if it’s very “fake” sounding. Really, the fact that this is for a kiddy anime is no reason to be cheap with the sounds. But I understand the reasoning, it needs to sound tight, clearly the natural or “roomy” feel is not what they were going for. But man, just imagine this song with a real live band! A real horn section, the bassist could try his hand at slap bass and the guitarist would be absolutely moshing his dick off! It’d be awesome. No but really, it’s great even as it is. All kinds of shit going on. It’s good when there’s all kinds of shit going on, that way there’s more for me to listen to. Really, these girls’ voices are not always as pleasant as they could be so it’s good if the instrumental side offers something less painful to listen to. That said though, the girls here don’t do so bad. Well, Koharu is her usual self, but the other two aren’t awful, though nothing phenomenal either. They’re just “there.” But who cares, Kikkawa and Kitahara make up for it with their cuteness.
My point is that this is certainly no Anataboshi. This is not a good thing at all, but the single is really not awful. Point of advice: repeated listenings help you appreciate it a lot more, it’s just not as infective right away like Anataboshi was. Give it a few more spins, it probably deserves it. At least snort some coke and listen to Gamusharara.
Rating: 7 / 10
Tsunku has a knack for writing very nice, moving songs, that are often most effectively put to use in graduation concerts. Indeed, the full impact of most of these songs’ nostalgia and their touching quality reveals itself only after you see them being sung as someone is graduating. There’s just something about watching performances where everyone is busy crying their eyes out to the extent that they can barely even sing the song, let alone breathe. Delicious, sweet girly tears, guys. They will make any song better.
5th: Morning Musume - Never Forget:
This song really is quite touching. It’s sung practically solo by Asuka Fukuda who was leaving Morning Musume at that point, and later also covered by Kemeko. I always thought Fukuda was a great vocalist back then. It’s amazing she was only 13 at the time Ai no Tane was released and she was just as good of a singer as the rest of the 1st generation, probably even better than Kaori and definitely better (at that point) than any of the 2nd generation girls. Just imagine how her vocals might sound today if she had been a member of Momusu all these years!
With that said, something about Asuka always irritated me… namely the fact that she never showed basically any interest to be in Morning Musume. She was always the odd one out. Even at her graduation concert as they were singing this and everyone else was crying their eyes out, Asuka was smiling there all “awww, you guys…”, just happy she was finally getting the hell out of that group. Even if I’m not a huge fan of all girls who were in Morning Musume, I’ve never wished for anyone to leave since they obviously all wanted to be there as they were having fun and giving it their all. The exception is Asuka. She never seemed enthusiastic about anything. That never stood well with me to be honest.
Now, I realize that could be partly due to her age. Like I said, she WAS 13 at the time she joined Momusu. Goto was too and she got along just fine, but kids can be different. It might’ve just been too much for Asuka at the time. However, that still doesn’t explain the fact that she never, not even ONCE to my knowledge, showed even the slightest hint of childish satisfaction or whatever for being in a pop music group.
Still, even with all that said, it is a touching song. Even my distaste for Asuka’s… disinterest can’t change that!
4th: Morning Musume - Furusato:
Well, it had to be included you know? But I dunno… this song for me is so damn overplayed, overperformed and overhyped (and perhaps overrated) by now, and it doesn’t help that I never was a big fan of this song to begin with. So yeah, basically even the last vestige of old joy I could get from hearing this track is long gone… but even then I know it deserves it’s place here. It’s just that I don’t have a whole lot of positive things to say on it. Sorry, Furusato fans!
3rd: Morning Musume - 21seiki:
Alright, it’s time to take a break from the graduation songs. Say, did anyone but me ever notice the LOVE Machine single actually has ANOTHER track on the CD too?! Like, a B-side?! Yeah, I know. Crazy stuff ain’t it?!
21seiki is severely underrated; I do not recall anyone ever praising this song. I guess it’s up to me now to finally change that. The lyrics deal with the (at that time) upcoming 21st century and everyone’s dreams and hopes concerning the future. The sweetest part for me is the spoken word near the end where everyone states what their dream is. I’d paste it to you here but unfortunately they aren’t in the lyrics sheet and thus I can’t find them translated anywhere. However, here’s just that part cut out. The Japanese here is simple, I’m sure you could try figuring out what they’re saying if you wanted to.
Aww, did you listen to to Mari’s dream? So cute!
Musically the song it most reminds me of is the B-side of Egao YES Nude, Sayonara no Kawari ni. Perhaps another possible comparison could be drawn to Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru as well. In any case, it is a calm, very downtempo tune stripped from all unnecessary instrumentation and whatnot, instead presented in a very minimal or even bare bones manner. Well, minimal as far as H!P goes anyway. It’s mostly dominated by the intricate string arrangements and there are no solo lines here, it’s all sang in unison in choir-like manner. As is usually the case with Tsunku-composed songs, there is a hint of genius to be found here… yep, you guessed it: it’s time to present the classic Henkka’s Award for Eargasmic Excellence® to a specific part in this song!
There it is! You blink and you miss it! You can’t afford to overlook that part, it is fucking sweet and reaches truly eargasmic heights for me. It was exactly stuff like this that originally drew me into Hello! Project and Tsunku-composed music. Parts of musical awesomeness like that.
Not only is this one not a graduation song, it was never performed live, not even once, until FINALLY half the people who originally sang on it - Mari, Yuko, Nacchi and Kemeko - performed it on 11/30/2007 at the Morning Musume 10th Anniversary Memorial Party which was thankfully released as an FC DVD. Unfortunately even that was an abridged version, missing for example the part which received the HAEE®-award, but whatever. Here you go:
Honestly I’ve no idea why this song is as obscure as it is. It’s the the best imaginable coupling track to LOVE Machine. Maybe it’s “too boring” for all you youngsters of today. Pfft. Maybe I’m getting old.
2nd: Morning Musume - Suki na Senpai:
It goes without saying that when you mention Suki na Senpai, the thing that should instantly pop into everyone’s heads is the legendary, simply heartbreaking performance of it at the 2006 Summer Wonderful Hearts Land concert as it was performed for the last time ever by the Morning Musume 5th generation members. Indeed, it was after this very performance that Konno left the group and Ogawa was soon to follow.
Hell, even at the very beginning both their voices start cracking as the crowd cheers them to go on. And just wait until Risa and Ai appear and all hell breaks loose as all four of them start bawling, trying desperately to somehow make it to the end of the song. Man, I like to think of myself as a your usual, perhaps manly type of emotionless metalhead, but damn! Give me a little alcohol to go with this and it could bring even me to the brink of tears. How can it be both so incredibly sad but heartwarming at the same time? It’s simply a mesmerizing performance with Risa, Asami, Makoto and Ai giving it their best together as Morning Musume for the last time.
Man… the 5th generation were really something else, huh?
1st: Morning Musume - I WISH:
Well, looks like it turned out to be all Morning Musume this time.
Here’s a fun fact. When I was just a wee lad new to Morning Musume and Hello! Project, desperately seeking to hear more, I ended up downloading these huge torrents containing basically everything H!P has ever put out. As I eagerly feasted on the sweet J-pop with my ears, for some strange reason I thought it would be a good idea to “save up” or put aside some Morning Musume single and not listen to it until whatever moment I deemed “special” enough, preferably after I had listened to everything else. Don’t ask, I just like to do inane bullshit like this. Anyway, I decided on this one. So, it took anywhere from 6 months to a full year for me to actually hear this song after getting into Morning Musume. Fun thing is, when I finally lost my I WISH virginity, I hated it at first. “What, is that it? Jesus fucking Christ man…”
Because I’m an asshole, I’ll have to mention something on a critical note. Is anyone else left wholly unimpressed by Kago’s finishing solo line? I sure as hell am. She did get better at delivering it as time went on, but here it’s simply not very good. “…Okay, so you reached that note. Now what?” Also, the transition after that to Maki’s part is pretty much the cheesiest part of the whole song right there.
And hey, the song itself is not half bad either! It was one I seriously considered for the most epic ranking but I realized it had to be saved for this one. Starting with a minute-long intro that kicks off the song on a quiet note and then it slowly but surely gets louder and louder, with suddenly some church organ entering, the rhythmic clapping and before long after a minute or so it explodes to the chorus with all kinds of crazy shit happening as far as instrumentation goes. Indeed, some could say that especially during the chorus there’s even too much going on with all kinds things flooding the soundstage… but fuck that, man! It’s okay to have a little god damn flair in your music once in a while. Who cares if it’s a little over-the-top when you can just hear Tsunku had a blast with this one in the studio! “Hey, throw in the groovy bass we talked about, here at 02:23! While you’re at it, make me a damn horn and string arrangement. Oh, and don’t forget the DJ scratching sounds! Fuck, flood the whole thing with ‘em! Haha, oh that’s good. Ah, and I want a tiny motherfuckin’ piano breakdown over here at 03:17. But wait, that’s not enough… hmmm, let me record some fuckin’ beatbox on top of it! Oh god, hahaha, that sounds sweet! Alright guys, you can go now, I can manage here. I think I’ll get wasted and spend the night adding all kinds of shit in here before I drop it off for mixing and mastering.” My sole complaint with the arrangement are the “yo yo’s” and the “here we go’s” in the intro. Goddammit, shut the fuck up. I can hear the song is about to pick up even without your idiotic bullshit, stop ruining it.
The PV deserves a mention too, doesn’t it? One of the only Hello! Project PV’s ever to bear some kind of storyline with even some light acting going on, reminiscent of the Hello Morning skits. While normally I’ll watch PV’s once, maybe twice, and move on with my life, I think this particular PV is very important for the song as it fits and defines it extremely well. When I think of this song, I think of the florist Yuko, the perverted Nacchi flipping her skirt, Kemeko burning her shirt with an iron and stealing Tsuji’s hotdog while Kago’s flirting with Marippe, only to get her nose elbowed by Kaori. Feels like you can’t have the song without the PV when it comes to this one, you know?
But in any case. This song is an obvious choice and for good reason. A guaranteed tearjerker, it’s been sung as one of the last songs at the final concerts of Yuko, Kei, Tsuji, Kago, Rika and Yossie, easily making it the ultimate, be-all-end-all graduation song. Pretty impressive, wouldn’t you say?
Next time I’ll continue in the same vein: we’ll look at the five most bittersweet or saddest songs H!P has to offer. I’ve come to an unexpected realization concerning that one, I think you’ll be surprised.
So when I moved my blog to Ray’s server, I promised one post a week which sounds reasonable enough… and last week I didn’t manage to post anything. I wasn’t feeling very creative. Everything I wrote was just shit, you know? Ah well, hopefully I won’t make it into a habit. To apologize for that, I’m just gonna skip all the review bullshit for now and instead post up a new Top 5 next. Look for it this weekend.
In the mean time though, here are the results to my perverted body part poll of October.
Unfortunately this time my vote didn’t get the win as Sakimilk ended up with a disappointing 3 votes. Junjunwomb is the clear winner here with 20% of the votes. Impressive! Looks like that sweet, sweet womb of Junjun was irresistible to most of you. Cheers also to the 5 who voted for Kagolungs. Hahaha, I’m just glad 4 people were honest enough to vote for Risakofat!
To celebrate the successful poll, here’s some eyecandy demonstrating all those options you could choose from.
There’s a new poll up now, you should go vote. This time I want to hear your thoughts on the upcoming Elder Club graduation. As for me? Bleh. Man, I don’t know. I mean, I bet it’s good for UFA now that they don’t have to pay a bunch of people for doing absolutely nothing. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll put that money to better use and finally get some decent PV’s out or buy Tsunku more potent drugs so he doesn’t make another LALALA Shiawase no Uta or Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi. But what the hell, I don’t care about UFA’s finances! If you had asked me to choose between firing either the Elder Club or the Wonderful Hearts, the latter would’ve been right out of the door. Well, at least if I knew the Elder Club would start getting the same amount of releases afterwards. I don’t care if they have close to zero selling power, it doesn’t matter to me. I do know that they are simply more interesting to me currently than Wonderful Hearts are.