After the great news that Maeda Atsuko would have her first leading role in a film and release a solo single, I bet you are all pumped to see her have the lead for the Hana Kimi remake. I've been wishing that they make a live-action adaption of Ouran High School Host Club (which they are), plus this! AKB48 are reaching now to surpass Mr. Children in record sales; they surpassed a million copies on their second day. This makes dealing with haters so much more worth it. The opening theme will be AKB's 22nd single, but that isn't too surprising considering Acchan has a guaranteed spot in the top 5. However, if she isn't center would that be weird. . . Anyway, there is even better news for AKB48 fans:
Tojima Hana and Komatani Hitomi will be joining SDN48!!!!!
With all SDN's recent graduations, things weren't looking too good. (You tend to get people that graduate early on, but still you hope they aren't jumping ship.) They are both first generation members. Tojima is very popular with overseas fans, like myself.
I'm under a bit of a time constraint with working, and me leaving on Monday. So, I will just post some recent PVs and I'll try to review them later and update this post.
The outfits are cute, but I don't like the bubbles. The close-up and dance-shot backgrounds are cute. I didn't understand the point to the six part shots at the beginning. So, I actually would prefer it if they did less editing, because the things they did looked cheap. The jump shots and props were fun. Except for some of the editing, this was a good Hello Project PV. Typical Hello Project PVs: studio-only, dance shot+ close up shot, and no creativity (except for the girls making cute faces).
☆☆☆The costumes really suit DiVA, but the pants for the silver. . . do not approve. I do appreciate them doing a different angle (birds-eye ish), but I didn't love it. I'm not usually a fan of black-figures but with the dancing it turned out well. Now what were they holding, that made them switch outfits? The night-time setting matched the song, but them holding something that glows didn't have a point to it.
☆☆☆☆This is only one shot out of a PV, but I posted it anyway. I'll just leave some comments. I love the fact that they are doing something different and Mano looks great outside! See what a change of setting and moving camera can do. I wouldn't even mind that much if this was the entire PV.
Perfume always does a fabulous job. I love the concept of taking pictures and making them coming alive by replacing them with video.
☆☆☆☆☆Oh god. When I saw the outfits I was concerned. The problem with these is that they aren't flattering. It flattens their chest and highlights curves in a negative way. These only suit those who are tall and thin. It made Risako's boobs smaller. I don't like the changing colors and heart shapes. Changing colors always look cheap to me; I hate it when people use them in opv and amv. Some of the dancing is vulgar in my opinion. The bike shots looked bad. I do like the sectioned screens during the dance shots. I did like having the girls dance in front of a screen of their close-up shot, it reminded me of concerts. However, I didn't like the single close-ups on the screen during the dance-shot.
☆☆Very pretty.
☆☆☆☆☆I don't like the crystals and the mini poles at the front of the dance shot. The short blonde hair isn't good on Takahashi. Niigaki's hair finally looks good, but they still need to work on styling Aika's. The group still shot looks odd with all the extra props. I do not understand all the crystals. If they took away all the extras I would like it more. Adding doesn't make it better. The girls look pretty and I prefer the white on white over the purple and red sets. I would prefer a different oufit on different colors. I just don't think they look as good. Besides it is the same set with different color curtains. They should of mixed up the outfits a bit more than 9th gen has shorts. This didn't make me like the song than I already did.
☆☆I don't like any of the guys, or the song that much. I do like the variety of shots, angles, outfits, and pans.
☆☆☆Why are they at a foreign college? I guess a lot of people travel abroad but. . . I don't like the bimbo cheerleaders. I like the close up shorts of them singing and some of the group shots outside, but I'm not sure about anything else.
☆☆☆I'm not a huge fan of this single. I find the contrast between the new and old backgrounds odd. There were quite a couple of things that confused me. However the dance shot and the close-ups were good. Why is Yukirin keep on trying to seduce me? Nice, in Aki-cha's temptress shot she just twirled. . . very sexy. They are pretty adorable.
☆☆☆I like the positive messages.
☆☆☆☆Little trivia, but they didn't finish filming this PV because of the earthquake, which is too bad because I love everything about this PV. Perfume is just perfection. I adore the orange accents and the flowing fabric. You don't need to over-edit, or tons of different things to make a good PV.
☆☆☆☆☆
1. Kaze wa Fuiteiru (AKB) 
9. Okie Dokie (SKE) 
9. Okie Dokie (SKE) 
21. Shumatsu Not Yet (Not Yet) 
