And a short post for once!
I did a quick layout change because the last one was killing me, because my embedded yt videos didn't fit. Hopefully this will be better!
9 years ago
Monday, June 22, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
TOP 5 Series: Vocal Performances (Special Top 10 edition)
As promised, to make me feel better about not feeling like a shallow wota, I am showing the unsuperficial aspect of AKB48 that I love.
So, what amazes me about AKB48 is just how much variation there is in the group. I read somewhere that the concept that Akimoto was using for the AKB48 concept was a classroom where you have all types of girls, so it was not necessarily based on talent alone. While AKB48 has some very generic, cutesy idol songs (which more often then not, to my dismay, end up as their singles >.<), but they can have some sexy songs, some mature songs, and songs that just flat out rock. But with the concept of the stage, we really get to see some of the girls show off their vocals that normally wouldn't fit in the generically cutesy idol single songs (*cough* Yuka *cough*). So here, I included my favorite vocal performances. As a note, I haven't really watched all the stages yet (though, I guess I have listened to all the songs at one point), so I'm really open to hearing other great vocal performances that you readers all have heard. These just happen to be the ones that upon the first couple of listens blew me away.
Also, since I ended up with so many on the honorable mentioned list, I decided to make a top 10 list! Yay! (DISCLAIMER: I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MUSIC THEORY... if you disagree on music theory/vocal knowledge, I would love to hear what you think ^-^. I love learning new things.) Most of these songs I put on here, because I have tried them out and had a lot of trouble doing them, so I'm super impressed by them.
10.Mail no Namida
When Sayaka's solo comes near the end of the song, it literally gives me chills every time I hear it... it's so beautiful. Whoever thought of Chocolove is a complete genius :D I mean, let's pair Rina, who has the voice of an angel... it's so light and airy and beautiful... but I'm getting distracted here, with Sayaka and Sae who are good powerful singers. And despite this difference, they blend beautifully. Unlike their first single where Rina had the only solos, this one allows them to show off their voices in solos that seem to really suit them. All I can say is wow. And while I did like Mochi's addition to AX, it's not the same without Rina T-T
9. Anata no Christmas Eve
I love that they both come back every year (well... all two years they've held it, lol) to perform this at AX. I did like Takamina and Maimai's rendition, but there is nothing better than when Ayumi and Michiru perform this together, with Michiru on the piano. The low notes are kind of killer, but it fits their voices. Add in some beautiful harmonies in the bridges, and then a power chorus, it shows that when these two graduated, AKB48 really lost two great vocalists.
8. Dakishimetara
Darn... I couldn't find a yt video on this to embed, but I think I said this before in one of my first posts, but this song is what put Natsuki in my Top 10 of my favorites. Every time I hear this song, it gives me both chills (because the singers are amazing here) and also a warm feeling inside. I love Mochi's amazingly smooth, low voice, and Kasai's higher pitch vocals. I didn't think Kasai would have fit such a mature song, but she nailed it. But the person that I love the most in this song is Natsuki. Her voice is strong and clear while still having an edge of something that really makes it stand out to me. It's so gorgeous T-T. Anyway, the only complaint I have of this that Natsuki gets the second chorus, which means when they shorten it for concerts (like AX... mark my words, this song will be in there next year! I'm voting for it!), Natsuki's chorus won't be in there :(. Anyway, I
love this song so much.
7. Naki nagara Hohoende
I LOVE Yuko's voice. It's very unique, it's got this like husky quality to it. Though, I haven't heard her in recent stuff (... slowly catching up on that...) since her surgery, I have they haven't changed her voice. I mean, I guess it would be okay if Yuko got a cute voice, but the way it is here makes her really stand out. Anyway, I love this ballad. It interested me at first because this (before K5 that is) was the only solo song that was officially part of the stages, I think. Then when I listened to it, I got the good goosebumps. Yuko did an amazing job with this.
6. Mushi no Ballad
Hm... I can only find Yuka's version on youtube... but it's okay, because it's just as good as Sayaka singing it, but I'll put the audio have of it here. All I have to say is wow about this song. It's a solo, so that demands a lot, but not only that, it's an 80's style power ballad, which means only certain girls in AKB48 can sub in. In the Yuka version, it's amazing because she's singing completely live... you can hear the rawness, but this song was just made for Sayaka. Words can't express how much I love this song.
5. Higurashi no Koi
I thought it was only fair that I include both version of this. In Team 2, we have Oh-yay, (who I wish I had gotten to know when she was still on AKB48, but unfortunately she graduated before I got into AKB48) who's voice is really sweet and nice, and Deguchi, who I guess is on SKE? I don't know, but she's really good. This is what I will call the sweet version of this song. It's really pretty as a ballad, and they did an amazing job with it. But I love the Team 1 version of it of Takamina and Yuka. I'm going to call this the power version of it. I honestly think that it suits the song better with power, but either way you look at it, both teams nailed this song. After trying this song out myself, it's not easy... especially those choruses. They require you to stay in your head voice for some kind of high notes, which in Oh-yay's and Deguchi's version, they actually switch to head voice, but in Team 1's they did not. But this song in Team 1 has who fans argue as the best singers on AKB48, so it's only understandable that they came out with such an awesome song. This though is really my favorite song from the Himawari stages, and I will always vote for this one when AX rolls around, so I can watch live Takamina and Yuka vocals!
4. Blue Rose
This song is just so full of wow! I mean, it's awesome cool song... my favorite part being where they kick the mic stands away and pull them back up. This one got high up on my list because recently I did a fandub of this a couple of weeks ago (which will be posted as soon as I get around to posting my other groups besides Twin Stars...), and my god was this hard. It made me sweat just from singing it... I can't even imagine how this girls pull it off so easily. Anyway, you really have to power this to make it sound good, and then there are very places to really get good breaths. The notes get a little on the high side to really power them well without getting nasally, and the fact that all of them can do that is just so amazing to me. I like the Team K version the best, though the Team B version is pretty good as well. I wish they would stop doing this song in shuffle concerts though T-T. I really don't like Team A versions of this... they're voices are just too cutesy for it.
3. Maria
lol on the blooper with Ayaka's magic hair. This song is mixture of pure magic: take a religious-ish song (AKB48 seems to like them...) about the Virgin Mary, add nun/Victorian costumes with Tomo~mi-chan in a gothic lolita outfit, lots of rockin' guitars, and Yuka power vocals, and you get pure epic win. Anyway, I recently heard Takamina try to do this song in the JCB shuffle concert, and boy it made me realize that the only person on AKB48 that can sing this out of the park is really only Yuka. I mean Takamina tried, and I thought she did the best she could, but no one can pwn it the way Yuka does. I'm surprised that there is dancing in this song because it requires so much in the vocal department.
1. Dreamin' Girls/ Mori e Ikou
We have a tie for number 1~! Because to me, to have to choose between the two songs is a little unfair because they are both awesome I think for the same reasons
Okay, AKB48 is a huge group. So, I LOVE it when they take advantage of it to do a choir sounding kind of thing, and the biggest sucker for having the girls sing their own harmonies in songs. I love these two songs because it really shows to me, a serious side to AKB48, as well as shows that this group really can do kickass vocals. First we have dreamin' girls, which is an awesome acapella gospel song. That's right, it's a genre that I have seen no other idol group venture into, which really earns them bonus points. Also, this song is so complex with what sounds like many parts to the harmony as well as different parts singing the "ah"s, which are also harmonized. So amazing T-T
Mori e Ikou is just amazing. I almost had this one ranked above dreamin' girls, but I realized the only reason why I liked this one better because this one had a kick ass instrumental. But the composition is amazing, and the girls sing it so well. It's a great song.
Honorable Mentions:
Temodemo Namida: This song may not be that hard notewise, but I've been trying it out because it's going to be the next Twin Stars release, and I'm convinced now that Miki and Yuki are robots and don't need air. If you ever wondered why the dance is so simple in this song, it's because it's super hard to sing this, and if you tried to dance, there wouldn't any air left for the last line of the chorus.
Junai Crescendo: Another song that I find absolutely amazing, and all the girls are really strong here. I love how their voices sound, and some of those bridges give me the good chills at how they do their bridges into the chorus.
Bird: A great display of Takamina vocals here. I really like the emotion that these girls put into their performance.
Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru: I only included this because this song for some reason gets covered by a lot of groups, but those low notes are kind of deceptive. The dubbers trip all over themselves on them (which makes me really appreciate the way that Takamina just nails it every time).
Boku no Taiyou: I'm not going to lie, this one surprised me because I didn't realize until I tried to sing this for a group, that the range of just the melody is almost 2 octaves o.o I'm sure there is someone out there who can tell me what the actual range is, but it's amazingly big.
Inochi no Tsukai Michi: Another one, like Boku no Taiyou, which has a huge range for the entire group to sing.
Nagai Hikari: I really think that I included this only for the Takamina (or Myao as it was for the month when Takamina was too busy filming Mendol) solo. I love it.
Wow, that's a lot of songs I've listed here o.o It turns out that these girls have a lot of songs that they can really show off their vocal prowess in. I really liked making this list because it made me go back and listen to a whole bunch of great songs ^-^. I may be missing some other great vocal performances, but I'm still new at AKB48. these are the ones that caught my ear when I listened to all the stages out there so far. Some in the honorable mentions should be in the Top 10, but I didn't have enough room T-T I had already expanded it from 5 to 10 when I noticed I had like 15 songs in the Honorable mention list.
Some of my typing is a little nonsensical because it's a little on the late side here, and I wanted to finish... I'll fix them later, but for now, enjoy!
So, what amazes me about AKB48 is just how much variation there is in the group. I read somewhere that the concept that Akimoto was using for the AKB48 concept was a classroom where you have all types of girls, so it was not necessarily based on talent alone. While AKB48 has some very generic, cutesy idol songs (which more often then not, to my dismay, end up as their singles >.<), but they can have some sexy songs, some mature songs, and songs that just flat out rock. But with the concept of the stage, we really get to see some of the girls show off their vocals that normally wouldn't fit in the generically cutesy idol single songs (*cough* Yuka *cough*). So here, I included my favorite vocal performances. As a note, I haven't really watched all the stages yet (though, I guess I have listened to all the songs at one point), so I'm really open to hearing other great vocal performances that you readers all have heard. These just happen to be the ones that upon the first couple of listens blew me away.
Also, since I ended up with so many on the honorable mentioned list, I decided to make a top 10 list! Yay! (DISCLAIMER: I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MUSIC THEORY... if you disagree on music theory/vocal knowledge, I would love to hear what you think ^-^. I love learning new things.) Most of these songs I put on here, because I have tried them out and had a lot of trouble doing them, so I'm super impressed by them.
10.Mail no Namida
When Sayaka's solo comes near the end of the song, it literally gives me chills every time I hear it... it's so beautiful. Whoever thought of Chocolove is a complete genius :D I mean, let's pair Rina, who has the voice of an angel... it's so light and airy and beautiful... but I'm getting distracted here, with Sayaka and Sae who are good powerful singers. And despite this difference, they blend beautifully. Unlike their first single where Rina had the only solos, this one allows them to show off their voices in solos that seem to really suit them. All I can say is wow. And while I did like Mochi's addition to AX, it's not the same without Rina T-T
9. Anata no Christmas Eve
I love that they both come back every year (well... all two years they've held it, lol) to perform this at AX. I did like Takamina and Maimai's rendition, but there is nothing better than when Ayumi and Michiru perform this together, with Michiru on the piano. The low notes are kind of killer, but it fits their voices. Add in some beautiful harmonies in the bridges, and then a power chorus, it shows that when these two graduated, AKB48 really lost two great vocalists.
8. Dakishimetara
|
Darn... I couldn't find a yt video on this to embed, but I think I said this before in one of my first posts, but this song is what put Natsuki in my Top 10 of my favorites. Every time I hear this song, it gives me both chills (because the singers are amazing here) and also a warm feeling inside. I love Mochi's amazingly smooth, low voice, and Kasai's higher pitch vocals. I didn't think Kasai would have fit such a mature song, but she nailed it. But the person that I love the most in this song is Natsuki. Her voice is strong and clear while still having an edge of something that really makes it stand out to me. It's so gorgeous T-T. Anyway, the only complaint I have of this that Natsuki gets the second chorus, which means when they shorten it for concerts (like AX... mark my words, this song will be in there next year! I'm voting for it!), Natsuki's chorus won't be in there :(. Anyway, I
love this song so much.
7. Naki nagara Hohoende
I LOVE Yuko's voice. It's very unique, it's got this like husky quality to it. Though, I haven't heard her in recent stuff (... slowly catching up on that...) since her surgery, I have they haven't changed her voice. I mean, I guess it would be okay if Yuko got a cute voice, but the way it is here makes her really stand out. Anyway, I love this ballad. It interested me at first because this (before K5 that is) was the only solo song that was officially part of the stages, I think. Then when I listened to it, I got the good goosebumps. Yuko did an amazing job with this.
6. Mushi no Ballad
|
Hm... I can only find Yuka's version on youtube... but it's okay, because it's just as good as Sayaka singing it, but I'll put the audio have of it here. All I have to say is wow about this song. It's a solo, so that demands a lot, but not only that, it's an 80's style power ballad, which means only certain girls in AKB48 can sub in. In the Yuka version, it's amazing because she's singing completely live... you can hear the rawness, but this song was just made for Sayaka. Words can't express how much I love this song.
5. Higurashi no Koi
I thought it was only fair that I include both version of this. In Team 2, we have Oh-yay, (who I wish I had gotten to know when she was still on AKB48, but unfortunately she graduated before I got into AKB48) who's voice is really sweet and nice, and Deguchi, who I guess is on SKE? I don't know, but she's really good. This is what I will call the sweet version of this song. It's really pretty as a ballad, and they did an amazing job with it. But I love the Team 1 version of it of Takamina and Yuka. I'm going to call this the power version of it. I honestly think that it suits the song better with power, but either way you look at it, both teams nailed this song. After trying this song out myself, it's not easy... especially those choruses. They require you to stay in your head voice for some kind of high notes, which in Oh-yay's and Deguchi's version, they actually switch to head voice, but in Team 1's they did not. But this song in Team 1 has who fans argue as the best singers on AKB48, so it's only understandable that they came out with such an awesome song. This though is really my favorite song from the Himawari stages, and I will always vote for this one when AX rolls around, so I can watch live Takamina and Yuka vocals!
4. Blue Rose
This song is just so full of wow! I mean, it's awesome cool song... my favorite part being where they kick the mic stands away and pull them back up. This one got high up on my list because recently I did a fandub of this a couple of weeks ago (which will be posted as soon as I get around to posting my other groups besides Twin Stars...), and my god was this hard. It made me sweat just from singing it... I can't even imagine how this girls pull it off so easily. Anyway, you really have to power this to make it sound good, and then there are very places to really get good breaths. The notes get a little on the high side to really power them well without getting nasally, and the fact that all of them can do that is just so amazing to me. I like the Team K version the best, though the Team B version is pretty good as well. I wish they would stop doing this song in shuffle concerts though T-T. I really don't like Team A versions of this... they're voices are just too cutesy for it.
3. Maria
lol on the blooper with Ayaka's magic hair. This song is mixture of pure magic: take a religious-ish song (AKB48 seems to like them...) about the Virgin Mary, add nun/Victorian costumes with Tomo~mi-chan in a gothic lolita outfit, lots of rockin' guitars, and Yuka power vocals, and you get pure epic win. Anyway, I recently heard Takamina try to do this song in the JCB shuffle concert, and boy it made me realize that the only person on AKB48 that can sing this out of the park is really only Yuka. I mean Takamina tried, and I thought she did the best she could, but no one can pwn it the way Yuka does. I'm surprised that there is dancing in this song because it requires so much in the vocal department.
1. Dreamin' Girls/ Mori e Ikou
We have a tie for number 1~! Because to me, to have to choose between the two songs is a little unfair because they are both awesome I think for the same reasons
Okay, AKB48 is a huge group. So, I LOVE it when they take advantage of it to do a choir sounding kind of thing, and the biggest sucker for having the girls sing their own harmonies in songs. I love these two songs because it really shows to me, a serious side to AKB48, as well as shows that this group really can do kickass vocals. First we have dreamin' girls, which is an awesome acapella gospel song. That's right, it's a genre that I have seen no other idol group venture into, which really earns them bonus points. Also, this song is so complex with what sounds like many parts to the harmony as well as different parts singing the "ah"s, which are also harmonized. So amazing T-T
Mori e Ikou is just amazing. I almost had this one ranked above dreamin' girls, but I realized the only reason why I liked this one better because this one had a kick ass instrumental. But the composition is amazing, and the girls sing it so well. It's a great song.
Honorable Mentions:
Temodemo Namida: This song may not be that hard notewise, but I've been trying it out because it's going to be the next Twin Stars release, and I'm convinced now that Miki and Yuki are robots and don't need air. If you ever wondered why the dance is so simple in this song, it's because it's super hard to sing this, and if you tried to dance, there wouldn't any air left for the last line of the chorus.
Junai Crescendo: Another song that I find absolutely amazing, and all the girls are really strong here. I love how their voices sound, and some of those bridges give me the good chills at how they do their bridges into the chorus.
Bird: A great display of Takamina vocals here. I really like the emotion that these girls put into their performance.
Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru: I only included this because this song for some reason gets covered by a lot of groups, but those low notes are kind of deceptive. The dubbers trip all over themselves on them (which makes me really appreciate the way that Takamina just nails it every time).
Boku no Taiyou: I'm not going to lie, this one surprised me because I didn't realize until I tried to sing this for a group, that the range of just the melody is almost 2 octaves o.o I'm sure there is someone out there who can tell me what the actual range is, but it's amazingly big.
Inochi no Tsukai Michi: Another one, like Boku no Taiyou, which has a huge range for the entire group to sing.
Nagai Hikari: I really think that I included this only for the Takamina (or Myao as it was for the month when Takamina was too busy filming Mendol) solo. I love it.
Wow, that's a lot of songs I've listed here o.o It turns out that these girls have a lot of songs that they can really show off their vocal prowess in. I really liked making this list because it made me go back and listen to a whole bunch of great songs ^-^. I may be missing some other great vocal performances, but I'm still new at AKB48. these are the ones that caught my ear when I listened to all the stages out there so far. Some in the honorable mentions should be in the Top 10, but I didn't have enough room T-T I had already expanded it from 5 to 10 when I noticed I had like 15 songs in the Honorable mention list.
Some of my typing is a little nonsensical because it's a little on the late side here, and I wanted to finish... I'll fix them later, but for now, enjoy!
Monday, June 15, 2009
A Pic Spam trying to be a review, Namida Suprise vers.
So, sometime this week (or last week... I haven't really been paying that close of attention), the full PV came out of the new AKB48 single "Namida Surprise," set to release on 6/24, sending all other idol groups (when I say all other, I mean C-ute here, and really no bashing intended here because C-ute are totally my girls too) away in terror for another release date.
When I first listened to the song, I had to say I felt lukewarm about it at best. Maybe it was LQ previews or the disappointment I felt at the senbatsu, but I wasn't that excited to get this single. The only promising aspect of it was the voting forthe next senbatsu (which I was once again disappointed to hear that I couldn't actually vote). The coupling tracks are Shonichi (and I think it says the Team B version...) and First Love (Erena solo track), which I guess is okay, but as a fandubber, I would so have taken a Shonichi instrumental track over her solo (sorry Erena fans, I'm just not loving her song).
But then the PV came out, and boy was it a great PV! While very uneven with screen time, when I watched it, the first thing I thought was.... NOW THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE AN IDOL PV! (*UFA shot*). While it didn't have a completely blatant story with drama and everything like their last couple of PVs have been, it had a great story and amazing shots done. Now begins the pic spam + comments on a PV high lights:
The PV opens with all the senbatsu in a classroom. I assume we're supposed to assume that they're in the same class, which makes me lol because Mariko (not that you can see her in the classrooom scene) is like 10 years older than Jurina. Acchan apparently is a nerd with glasses? I don't know, but they look good on her, but I don't buy it.
Apparently, Acchan is in love with her teacher. I would be too if my teacher looked like him.
Then the bell rings and all pandominium breaks loose and it's time to escort Acchan to the birthday surprise hall, but with West Side Story style dancing down the halls. Maybe what we can't see is coming down the hall on the other side is Morning Musume ready for You Got Served-esque dance off. *sigh* I can only dream... Acchan dancing with the blindfold on is awkward but kind of cute at the same time.
Umm... guys? I think it maybe really unsafe for you to run down the stairs when someone is wearing a blindfold... oh well, it seems that no idols were harmed in the making of this PV (or I'm just assuming...). Oh well, I guess party hats to make us feel all warm inside...
And behind the beautiful silver curtain is the great reveal... AKB senbatsu birthday dance. Nothing says Happy Birthday more than a giant idol group doing a song and dance just for you on your special day.
Now cut from the dance scene and we get Tomo~mi-chan in a maid costume with a cake. Haha, she so would do the whole maid costume thing, and of course she trips and falls in the most outrageous fashion that seems to shock the weird extras that keep taking screentime from other AKB48 members. The cake is passed to Miichan, who then for some unknown reason thinks it's time to play hot potato with the cake and hand it off to Yukirin, who poses for a picture.
Lol at the camera that Mariko uses. Which some crazy prop with a CD for a lens and then poofs a crazy amount of smoke for every picture. But that's fine, it seems that other groups are waiting in line for their pictures before it's time to run off to eat food at what I can only assume is their cafeteria. (though, I thought that Japanese students ate in the classroom...)
Wtf old breakdancers! Stop stealing screentime from my girls! And also, Jurina, get off the tables... you're much too young to be auditioning for Coyote Ugly.
And a birthday celebration would not be complete without cake! Go away extras, no one wants to see you! awww Miichan's Pikachu cheeks are adorable. I want my birthday cake to be brought in by Haruna :( She looks particularly pretty in these shots.
I love these shots of them all in a ring from the top. Too bad some of the time the rings aren't the most round, but whatever. All I could think about was the massive amount of time it must of have taken to coordinate that entire scene.
Make a wish Acchan!
And now we're back in the gym for the final happy dance! There are some cute shots where the girls hug each other, and then at the end, 6 of them run up and say Happy Birthday to the camera! ... wait, one of them is Acchan. Isn't it supposed to be your birthday? I guess you could wish yourself a happy birthday, but that seems odd to me...
And another wtf moment... what's up with the curtain and wand star at the end? Oh well, it's kind of cute.
For some closing notes, I have to admit, I'm not an Acchan fan. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am an Acchan hater, but I could never figure out why she got so much attention. That is until I saw this PV. She was absolutely radiant here, and that is I guess why she's the frontgirl of AKB48 (though, I would prefer it to be Takamina....). I'm not sure if I'm an Acchan fan yet, but this PV really changed my mind about her.
Anyway, overall, I give this:
Song: 4/5 stars (It was good, but not the best ever AKB48 song. Catchy though)
PV: 5/5 stars (so amazing... T-T)
Acchan star factor: 23423u2987 stars (yes, it's big that apparently I have to include a letter in there. Great job, Acchan! ^-^)
I'm including down here some other media:
The album of that I made with all my screen caps I made from the PV:
http://s382.photobucket.com/albums/oo266/shockingbuggy/Namida%20Surprise%20Clips/
And a groupdub I participated in for my friend Kary's birthday:
When I first listened to the song, I had to say I felt lukewarm about it at best. Maybe it was LQ previews or the disappointment I felt at the senbatsu, but I wasn't that excited to get this single. The only promising aspect of it was the voting forthe next senbatsu (which I was once again disappointed to hear that I couldn't actually vote). The coupling tracks are Shonichi (and I think it says the Team B version...) and First Love (Erena solo track), which I guess is okay, but as a fandubber, I would so have taken a Shonichi instrumental track over her solo (sorry Erena fans, I'm just not loving her song).
But then the PV came out, and boy was it a great PV! While very uneven with screen time, when I watched it, the first thing I thought was.... NOW THAT'S HOW YOU MAKE AN IDOL PV! (*UFA shot*). While it didn't have a completely blatant story with drama and everything like their last couple of PVs have been, it had a great story and amazing shots done. Now begins the pic spam + comments on a PV high lights:
The PV opens with all the senbatsu in a classroom. I assume we're supposed to assume that they're in the same class, which makes me lol because Mariko (not that you can see her in the classrooom scene) is like 10 years older than Jurina. Acchan apparently is a nerd with glasses? I don't know, but they look good on her, but I don't buy it.
Apparently, Acchan is in love with her teacher. I would be too if my teacher looked like him.
Then the bell rings and all pandominium breaks loose and it's time to escort Acchan to the birthday surprise hall, but with West Side Story style dancing down the halls. Maybe what we can't see is coming down the hall on the other side is Morning Musume ready for You Got Served-esque dance off. *sigh* I can only dream... Acchan dancing with the blindfold on is awkward but kind of cute at the same time.
Umm... guys? I think it maybe really unsafe for you to run down the stairs when someone is wearing a blindfold... oh well, it seems that no idols were harmed in the making of this PV (or I'm just assuming...). Oh well, I guess party hats to make us feel all warm inside...
And behind the beautiful silver curtain is the great reveal... AKB senbatsu birthday dance. Nothing says Happy Birthday more than a giant idol group doing a song and dance just for you on your special day.
Now cut from the dance scene and we get Tomo~mi-chan in a maid costume with a cake. Haha, she so would do the whole maid costume thing, and of course she trips and falls in the most outrageous fashion that seems to shock the weird extras that keep taking screentime from other AKB48 members. The cake is passed to Miichan, who then for some unknown reason thinks it's time to play hot potato with the cake and hand it off to Yukirin, who poses for a picture.
Lol at the camera that Mariko uses. Which some crazy prop with a CD for a lens and then poofs a crazy amount of smoke for every picture. But that's fine, it seems that other groups are waiting in line for their pictures before it's time to run off to eat food at what I can only assume is their cafeteria. (though, I thought that Japanese students ate in the classroom...)
Wtf old breakdancers! Stop stealing screentime from my girls! And also, Jurina, get off the tables... you're much too young to be auditioning for Coyote Ugly.
And a birthday celebration would not be complete without cake! Go away extras, no one wants to see you! awww Miichan's Pikachu cheeks are adorable. I want my birthday cake to be brought in by Haruna :( She looks particularly pretty in these shots.
I love these shots of them all in a ring from the top. Too bad some of the time the rings aren't the most round, but whatever. All I could think about was the massive amount of time it must of have taken to coordinate that entire scene.
Make a wish Acchan!
And now we're back in the gym for the final happy dance! There are some cute shots where the girls hug each other, and then at the end, 6 of them run up and say Happy Birthday to the camera! ... wait, one of them is Acchan. Isn't it supposed to be your birthday? I guess you could wish yourself a happy birthday, but that seems odd to me...
And another wtf moment... what's up with the curtain and wand star at the end? Oh well, it's kind of cute.
For some closing notes, I have to admit, I'm not an Acchan fan. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I am an Acchan hater, but I could never figure out why she got so much attention. That is until I saw this PV. She was absolutely radiant here, and that is I guess why she's the frontgirl of AKB48 (though, I would prefer it to be Takamina....). I'm not sure if I'm an Acchan fan yet, but this PV really changed my mind about her.
Anyway, overall, I give this:
Song: 4/5 stars (It was good, but not the best ever AKB48 song. Catchy though)
PV: 5/5 stars (so amazing... T-T)
Acchan star factor: 23423u2987 stars (yes, it's big that apparently I have to include a letter in there. Great job, Acchan! ^-^)
I'm including down here some other media:
The album of that I made with all my screen caps I made from the PV:
http://s382.photobucket.com/albums/oo266/shockingbuggy/Namida%20Surprise%20Clips/
And a groupdub I participated in for my friend Kary's birthday:
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