Berryz Koubou - 5 (FIVE) [5th Studio Album] (Amai Wana)
[Album Review] Berryz Koubou - 5(Five) (Wings of my Heart)
Berryz Koubou 5th Album [5(Five)] review (Sazaki’s H!P Weblog)

Recommended reading. More blogs have their thoughts to share on Berryz Koubou’s 5th album and it looks like there’s a positive response going around.

amaiyume of Amai Wana is generally impressed with Berryz’s 5th album, finding only a few weak points. amaiyume goes through the entire album, giving a rundown the strengths and weakness of each song. Overall, amaiyume found that the girls gave strong vocal performances, however some of the instrumentals/melodies just weren’t memorable for amaiyume.

Julia of Wings of my Heart chimes in with her thoughts and surprises even herself with her desire to write a review on BK’s latest album. It looks like Berryz Koubou were able to bring themselves out of the rut they settled into in Julia’s H!P world - a rut caused by their recent string of childish releases. Julia takes a detailed look into the songs that have really caught her attention, with some passing thoughts on the rest of the album. Like amaiyume, Julia find that the vocals are pretty strong on the album. And Julia, I totally feel your pain…

…Okay, and I wish there was more Miya, once I start thinking about it. I really love her. I might just need some quality Buono! time right about now.

Sazaki is very impressed with this album. They go through each track and give a score out of 10. While not particularly in depth, you can feel Sazaki’s enthusiasm for the album. The one downer looks to be the Special Generation remix, which they find sounds like a fan-remix). While I agree with Sazaki that BK’s 5th album “overcame and surpassed C-ute’s album”, I can’t quite agree with their following conclusion:

I must say that this is the best Berryz Koubou album, if not best in all Hello!Project.

The best in all of Hello! Project? That’s 10+ years of material to go up against, with albums by Golden Age Momusu and Matsuura Aya in her prime… That’s definitely a bold statement to make. However, to each their own. XD

Kinki Kids- Secret Code [27th Single]

Amai Wana provides the usual detailed and informative review of this single. Both the A-side and the B-sides garner high praise.

Meilin - Meilin Story [Debut Korean Single]

Amaiyume reviews Meilin’s Meilin Story. I think that Amaiyume’s reviews work a lot better when the artist or the release are relatively unknown to the reader. Otherwise, it’ll be be a summary of an artist/release to someone who already knows what Amaiyume is talking about. In this review for Meilin Story though, I knew very little about Meilin, but Amaiyume says enough (although I sort of wish more) to make me check her out.

Hyori Lee - It’s Hyorish [Volume Three]

A detailed track-by-track review of this album from the Kpop diva, except I must confess - my eyes keep wandering to all the eyecandy of Hyori acting all Hyorish and stuff. I mean, wow. That firefighter shot shouldn’t be a close-up, I wanna see her working the hose and everything.

So come for the review, stay for the smexy pics. If only Hyori had the same back story as Harisu and Lady, I could just fall in love…

BONNIE PINK - 鐘を鳴らして [24th Single]

Amaiyume reviews “Kane wo Narashite,” the latest single by Bonnie Pink.

C-ute - 江戸の手毬唄 II [6th Single]
Aira Mitsuki - チャイナ・ディスコティカ [2nd Single]
Ishida Yuko - Changes [2nd Single]

At Amai Wana, amaiyume reviews C-ute’s Edo no Temari Uta II, Aira Mitsuki’s China Discotica and Ishida Yuko’s Changes. All of them get amaiyume’s seal of approval.

One day after reading Amai Wana, I’m gonna be uttering the phrase “in order to promote the single, a PV for ____ was made” in my sleep.

Hey! Say! JUMP - Dreams come true [2nd Single]

Amaiyume has a positive review for this Hey! Say! JUMP single.

ayaka - Sing to the Sky

Recommended reading. amaiyume at Amai Wana has the most in depth track by track review of ayaka’s latest album. She analyses each song with great interest and explains quite thoroughly on how she feels about each track. There is a lot of praise for all the tracks, and I wasn’t surprised either. Ayaka has pulled an amazing album which clearly has exceeded expectations. As amaiyume clearly states,

ayaka certainly brought everything she had with Sing to the Sky and it certainly paid off

Everyone knows ayaka’s ballads such as “Mikazuki” and “I Believe” but after hearing her non-ballads on “Sing to the Sky”, it’s no wonder how much she’s grown since “First Message”. Mind you, she hasn’t forgotten how to sing beautiful and heartfelt ballads.

Arashi- One Love [22nd Single]

Amaiyume reviews Arashi’s latest single, describing it as “made for smiling along to”, which strikes me as a pretty good description. This single is definitely a winner for Amaiyume. She even loves the bagpipes.

Perfume - GAME [Debut Studio Album] (Amai Wana)
Perfume - GAME (Lost Wing)

Amaiyume of Amai Wana tackles GAME and it gets Amaiyume’s approval. Secret Secret is one of the favorites here and that is something that I think a lot of people will say. There is a downside to the album though, as Amaiyume finds that some of the tracks “get monotonous and lack variety.”

Megumi of Lost Wing has a different tone while reviewing the album. While Megumi is relatively positive to it as a whole, it is the work of Yasutaka Nakata that gets the credit. Megumi says that Perfume sings “robotically and half-heartedly.”

I think what I got from bringing these two reviews together, as well as other reviews of GAME, is that the album just is not going to be for everyone. Furthermore, I must be the only person in the world that likes the song “take me take me.” And I have suspect reasons for enjoying that one.