New PV Releases

Nami Tamaki - LADY MIND Wonder Girls - The DJ Is Mine   


SunnyHill - The Grasshopper Song

S/mileage - Please Wait A Little

Rainbow Pixie - Hoi Hoi
Morning Musume - Pyoko Pyoko Ultra
9muses - News
T-ara - Lovey-Dovey
Kikkawa Yuu - Early Snow
TEEN TOP - Crazy
SDN48 (Undergirls G) - Yaritagariya-san

Buono! - DEEP MIND

Buono! - Hatsukoi Cider

Jin Akanishi - Test Drive ft. Jason Derulo

Mano Erina - Doki Doki Baby

UPDATED: MOAR from the AKB family! + PVs

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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Very pretty.
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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.
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I don't like any of the guys, or the song that much.  I do like the variety of shots, angles, outfits, and pans.
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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.
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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.
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I like the positive messages.
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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.
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My Top 20 Songs of 2010

I noticed that people have been posting these.  Part of me wanted to wait till January, but the Oricon charts and many Japanese awards pick them early (which is why you won't see Beginner included in most of them).  Three stages from AKB48 have been premiered, so I wanted to include songs from those as well.  BUT, I am going to separate them.  I'll first do my Top 20 singles and then my Top 10 stages songs (no units).  I think that some will be surprised with the variety, even I am.  These are my opinions on what I liked best, not even what I think are in fact the best songs.  If the videos aren't showing up you'll have to go off the main page by clicking the read more link or whatever.  When I posted it all together it seemed slow. 

Top 20 Singles of 2010!

1. Beginner - AKB48
2. Troublemaker - Arashi
3. 1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku - SKE48
4. Monster - Arashi
5. Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo - Momoiro Clover
6. Oh! - Girls' Generation
7. Love Song - Rain
8. BBI-RI-BOP-A - Narsha
9. Sakura no Shiori - AKB48
10. Makenai Kokoro - AAA
11. Ponytail to Shushu - AKB48
12. Otakebi Boy WAO! - Berryz Koubou
13. Akkanbe Bashi - Watarirouka Hashiritai
14. Lupin - Kara
15. HUH - 4Minute
16. Onegai Dakara - Mano Erina
17. GAGAGA - SDN48
18. Wild - Amuro Namie
19. Shock! - C-ute
20. ooGanbaranakutemo Eenende!! - S/mileage  

Okay, I was going to give an explanation for each single one, but the formatting that I started out with wouldn't let me,  So either I had to reformat it or just do an overall explanation.  I guess it is for the best.  I have finals in less than a week and they probably wouldn't have been that good anyway.  When I was considering these I considered a couple of elements.  One was what my original feelings were towards the song.  This mostly played out if the song was addicting when I first heard it.  I also considered the artist themselves and whether it was that impressive coming from them.  I was more impressed with songs that sounded unique in comparison to what else was released from that artist and the market in general.  For example, while I thought 4Minute's singles are catchy and fun to dance to their catalog isn't that broad.  The song sounds similar to their other songs.  Personally, I like artists who experiment with their style.  There isn't anything wrong, and I am not a huge 4Minute fan, so that was my impression.  This also was the case for S/mileage and C-ute.  One of the songs that did well based on that criteria was Sakura no Shiori.  Some people say that AKB48 sounds like a choir, which isn't true at all.  They have a couple of songs that sound like that, but it is not common.  That single was a big risk and stood out from pretty much everything else released by popular groups, but that wasn't my only reason why.  I think it is a beautiful song.  As for what didn't make it. . . anyone notice that Morning Musume didn't make the cut?  It has been a bad year for them.  Last year they would of had a couple songs on my list, but nothing impressed me this go round.  If you want to hear an explanation for any song in particular just let me know in the comments.  



Top 10 Stage Tracks

1. I'm crying - Team A

2. 夢の鐘 - Team K

3. 100メートルコンビニ - Team B

4. ジグソーパズル48 - Team K

5. 摩天楼の距離 - Team A

6. 勇気のハンマー - Team B

7. ウッホウッホホ - Team K

8. 命の意味 - Team A

9. 隕石の確率 - Team B

10. いびつな真珠 - Team A

You know what.  Now that I formatted in a friendlier way, I don't really have anything to say for this part.  This ranking is pretty much just what I love in order of how much I like it.  If you want me to clarify. . . I'll consider it ( : 3 )

New Mano Erina PV

I know a lot of people didn't like her previous singles, but this just seems cliche idol.  Before I found her more interesting and I liked her stuff better.  Now that her music just seems like plain, old, idol. . . I'm bored.  And I do enjoy cliche idol songs.  Mano Erina doesn't really have a strong personality or quality about her, so she can't pull it off.

I Love Mano's New Single

I've always thought Mano Erina was basically what Hello Project was evolving into: cute with good talent but lacking magic. She was sweet and always performed well, but I didn't care about her. Oh she has a new single out, that's nice.  However, I can't stop listening to this song.  The PV is nice, but the candid moments seem out of place with the song.  It is her usual high-tempo, but sad track.  She is still the same girl as before.  It is the song that I love.  She always had the potential to charm me, but wasn't backed enough by Hello Project.  With Mano Erina and s/mileage being the future of Hello Project all I can say is this: they are moving away from the quirky idols that are so popular to professional sweeties.  I wonder if that will sell as well...

PV Previews

I like to wait till the full ones are released, but now there are quite a few so what the heck.

This is the B-side for AKB48's new single. This is Nusumareta Kuchibiru (Under Girls):


These are not the same Under Girls based on the last election.  In fact a couple of the people who made it got moved down.  I guess this is where the producers stand with favorites.  I still have not yet heard any input on who I should vote for.  Maybe I shall do a poll!

This is Mano Erina's new single (Onegai Dakara), which is coming out on May 12th:


This is S/mileage's first major single (Yume Miru 15sai):

News!

°C-ute - Campus Life ~Umarete Kite Yokatta~ PV
I like this PV, I also enjoyed Shock! but I didn't care for the blatant favoritism. I am glad Airi isn't getting all the lines. The outfits are cute, and so is the song. The disappointing results of the last album must of persuaded Tsunku to reconsider the direction he was heading. The single will be released on the 28th.

Oshima Mai - Mendokusai Aijou PV

I'm glad to see Oshima Mai finally going solo! The single is going to be released on May 5th.

Idoling!!! - Me Ni Wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu Hatsukoi LIVE

Idoling!!! - Me ni wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu Hatsukoi
Uploaded by idlg9. - See the latest featured music videos.
The single will be released June 9th. I give them major props for performing live even on TV programs, most idol groups don't.

Sayumi Michishige will be releasing a new photobook named 'La'(4/26) and DVD(4/28). I'm very excited!

Erina Mano will be releasing a new single on May 12th titled "Onegai Dakara..."

S/mileage will be also releasing a new single, their first non-indie one! It is named "Yume Miru Fifteen."

Ai Takahashi is getting people excited because she is coming out with another photobook(5/27) and DVD(6/02)

Mano Erina's New PV

Haru no Arashi PV: