11 posts tagged “pv”

Hello!

This post will be quick since I'm more excited to post the costume review!!!

Kimagure Princess

First, the song is really interesting. Sure, it may go along with the typical H!P song formula, but it still sounds really interesting with all the mixing. I would've liked a more mature sound, but considering that it's Koha's last single, well, you kinda have to go all out and crazy. I still like the song, and it still gets stuck in my head occasionally, but it's not anything special like Nanchatte Renai was.

The PV is one of those PVs that makes me go nuts. I mean, they just sold more copies than they did before Resonant Blue and all we get is this crap?!?! I mean, Mikan sold half of what Nanchatte sold, and we get this? There's no princesses, just maybe cowboy pop stars. Hopefully, this will also be like Resonant Blue, where the original PV was crap, and then the second one that was released was, well, awesome. They said that there will be another PV for this, so hopefully we'll see some princesses, or at least girly girls looking whimsical, 'cause that's what "Kimagure Princess" means.

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-Midori

Hello!

Berryz Koubou has released their latest PV, and I'll do a review for it, as usual!

I've been listening to nothing but Evita and Rent lately, so I'm in desperate need of some J-pop.

 

I'm going to be switching to a new review format for this PV- taking it step by step.

The Music is really shocking! I thought that this would be a really cutesy song with lots of Mini-Moni esque stuff. (I don't listen to the songs generally until the PV comes out.) Of course, the covers and PV shooting pictures should've led me to believe otherwise, but I thought that the covers used the costumes for RIVAL and that this would be totally different from that. I really like the beat of the song, and how this really doesn't fit what you think it would be by the title. I really like how every girl gets their own line, and the line that they get is always one that really fits their voice well for the song. I like how this is becoming more mature in the way that they're singing, and the music isn't exactly cutesy.

Costume-wise, while I can't say that I dig the girls' outfits when they're dressed as Bus Guides because the whole thing is that they're in love WITH the bus guide, and they're boys, not female Bus Guides. (Unless they're lesbos in the PV or sex-changing, age changing creepers) Dare I say it, but the dance shot outfits, while sexy and short on the bottom, could use a little skimping on the tops. They wear less during concerts, and they could go for an even more sexy outfit with the more mature music, so I wouldn't mind it. The boy costumes look great, and make them look like boys, but think they could've done more make-up wise to make them look like guys, not girls. Like put the make-up on in a different style, or just put less on.

I think that the bus guide lady was a perfect choice to play the part! She's older and more mature, so she looks like a pretty, nice lady to play a bus guide that teenage boys would drool over. Her voice is also perfect for the little speaches she does at the beginning and the end. She also interacts with the different girls very well. I can see why they chose her!

The PV is really fun! I love the theme: a boys-version of Berryz on a field trip falling in love with their bus guide! It's really funny and interesting to watch how each "boy" reacts differently to the bus guide and their "crush" on her. Miyabi's stalker-letter and I think Maasa's stalker-telescope thingy are probably the highlights of those. also really like how the mood is happy at the beginning, and then switches to being kind of anxious and nervous. I also love the way that they work the singing into the bus scenes, with them singing after her or things such as Chinami whispering into Miyabi's ear.

Finally, I'm a little worried about Miyabi. While I love her nails, (They look like the acrylics that girls at my school wear!) it seems that lots of Japanese schools are strict about fake nails and such, so I'm wondering if maybe she dropped out, or switched to a less strict entertainment school or something, maybe?

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-Midori

He~ello!

I LOVE BUONO TO DEATH!!!!!!

Can I say more? And their new PV is finally out. This will be quick since I'd like to save the insanely long posts for when I decide to write up this year's Haro!Pro awards/graduation bananza.

Anyways, here's the PV:

 

I LOVE THIS!!!

Everything is going right here! There's extras in an H!P PV, and the budget is awesome! two high-quality costumes and a great set. There's even a plot! They're getting more that Morning Musume is!!! Buono is moving up in the world! And they deserve it! The music is much better than Co.No.Mi.Chi, it fits Buono more. I really hope that Buono continues, even after Shugo Chara ends. They're so awesome~! I also love how the plot is Ninja!Buono sneaking into a building to steal the most heavily guarded cake I've ever seen.

Anyways, this new PV has led me to come up with my own ideas for how H!P should run without money flowing to the elders:

If this is the way that H!P is going now that there's not any extra money going to the elders club, who did nothing, I'm really excited. H!P may get a new, longer TV show, and better PVs, and maybe even more TV appearences. Now all they have to do is wipe that idol image off of them, and they're set! It's no secret that AKB48's sales have shot up since they started making dramas and created their own variety show for TV. It's also to be noted that the more interesting a PV is, the more likely people are to buy it. There was one song that came out a few months ago in Japan, which had cross-dressing men singing something like disco music. It's certantly interesting and eyecatching, and it's been selling extremely well. Other popular singers such as Koda Kumi or Ayumi Hamasaki have cool, eyecatching PVs, and they sell well. As for why Johnnys selling so extraordinarily well, it might not only be that they've been around so damn long, but also because right now, male singers are simply selling way better.

While the idol image is popular with the fans, and while the H!P parents may like it, anyone could tell you that no matter where you are, you can't make it into the entertainment world without scandals and publicity stunts. Scandals or relationships in J-pop may tick off the most creepy fans, but they don't ruin your carrer, they help it. How many wota seriously care if their girl is a virgin? I've already watched the winter concert, and I can testify to the fact that Nono and Kaorin got just as many cheers as any of the others even though they're married women. Also, how many celebrities have gotten famous because of who they marry or date. Not only in the U.S., but it also happens elsewhere. Has anyone else noticed that Nono's husband seems to have gotten all of these jobs since their relationship has started, and Nono herself has gotten many new oppourtunites from her relationship, weather it's the being a mother part, or just getting married. You'll often find that scandals can also raise publicity and intrest. When H!P was at its height, a scandal wouldn't get someone suspended, and in fact, it raised the publicity and intrest in H!P, which probably helped H!P stay popular. The second that they stopped tolerating scandals and were more conscious of what their girls did dating-wise, H!P stopped getting that publicity, and their sales dropped drastically.

So, scandals are good, and the more money they spend on getting the girls out and promoted, the better. This PV is certainly a step towards getting the PVs to get interesting so people will watch them, not just girls running around.

-Midori

Hello!

I saw the music video for Koda Kumi's "Showgirl," which I thought was great, and I was hit with the inspiration I needed to post.:

Why is this PV so good, but Hello!Project PVs so bad?

To answer this, I'll go into the plots/concepts of a few recent H!P PVs, one from Ayu, and "Showgirl" from Koda Kumi.

Nai Chau Kamo-

This PV is a danceshot with the girls looking all sad and dejected in the rain. That's about it.

Co.No.Mi.Chi-

This PV is a danceshot with Buono walking around infront of cheap CG-ed backgrounds. There's also minimal close-up shots added in here and there.

 

Madayade-

A danceshot and the Berryz working in an office along with danceshot closeups.

 

FOREVER LOVE-

C-ute watching their own danceshot with a few close-ups thrown in.

 

Marionette-

Ayumi is asleep in a creepy old room, all alone. She dreams of being held on a delapidated carosel, and being manipulated like a marionette. In the end, she wakes up and goes over to a mini, delapidated carosel like the one that she and a few other puppets were on, and sees that no one is there. As a bonus, at the concerts, they showed extra footage from it where the real Ayu actually was being manipulated like a Marionette by the men who were trapped on the carosel with her.

 

Showgirl-

Koda is dumped by her boyfriend, and decides to get back at him by becoming famous. She goes into a theatre and sees a dance troop. When she finds a poster that says that the group is holding auditions, Koda tries out and gets in. In fact, the judges like her so much that she's placed front and center in the group. After a great 1st performance, she talks to the dazzled fans and media. Her old boyfriend comes up to her, trying to woo her, but she promptly turns him down. It also shows her and the other dancers, who are very jealous of her, backstage after the show, where she shows them an expensive necklace she got from an admirer.

 

So, do we see the difference now?

Hello!Project PV's are just... bland. They have no story, no engaging theme, and not a hint of symbolism. I mean, while you could interperet the fact that Ayu is manipulated like a Marionette to mean that maybe she feels like some people are manipulating her in her real life, or that she feels too restricted by her carrer. Showgirl implies that Kumi has fun being a star and that she can take is all in stride.

What does NaiChau Kamo mean, the girls sometimes get sad? Do the sparkles placed by the girls in the Madayade PV mean that they're pretty?

And why do we care about that? While we may not know the deeper meanings that Ayumi's PV implies, I'm sure that we all knew that idols get sad and that they're pretty or cute.

The plot also makes a huge difference in this. While there doesn't need to be symbolism in a PV to make it good, there should at least be a plot. As I've written above, Kumi's PV has a story to it, and it's fun to watch and see what happens. It's kind of like a short little movie to watch while you're listening to the song. The stories can be engaging, sad, or funny. They aren't just "girls watching themselves dance" or "girls walking through bad representations of real places," they have a good story to them that you actually have to watch the PV to get.

While the girls' cuteness may draw wotas to them, and the pop music may draw the little girls straight that way, how are you supposed to draw teenage girls, who are some of the best patrons in most music markets, with a PV that doesn't interest them. If you had never heard of either H!P or Avex trax, and you had to watch both music videos, would you rather pay attention to the one that draws you in with a plot, or the one that just has cute girls walking around?

Furthermore, some may argue that you'd need a budget to do PVs with stories, but, there are ways you could turn these around with minimal extra money:

NaiChau Kamo- Show a guy, whose face you don't even need to show, dumping one of the girls, then spend time on having that girl talk and/or bitch to her friends (aka the rest of Morning Musume) about how stupid that guy was and have the other girls try to cheer her up one-by-one.

-Downsides: Bitching fans because one of the girls would get substantially more screentime than the rest. And possible angry extreme-wotas who are offended by even the thought of their favorite girl having a bf.

-Extra things needed: A random guy (hell, you could even just pull one off of the streets and pay him minimum wage if you don't show his face), a few chairs or couches and maybe a rug(which you could borrow), some games for the girls to play(the games you could probably borrow too), and a plain and simple room to put the stuff in. (which could probably just be a simple 2-white walls set-up.

Co.No.Mi.Chi- This has some of a plot already, but you could have the girls planning where to go and then finding themselves lost and trying to find their way back. (Yes that's a lame plot, but there are several movies like this, so why can't it work?)

-Downsides: It might be a little more expensive, but considering how well it's selling, that shouldn't be a problem.

-Extra things needed: A room for the girls to start and end in, and a tour around Tokyo with a camera. (or maybe just better CG)

Madayade- The girls just got hired at a foreign company, and they can't find ways to commuinicate with their bosses who only speak english. They proceed to study english with eachother until their boss finds them doing so and yells at them for slacking off or something.

-Downsides: This might be hard to get if you miss the parts of the PV with the girls and their english textbooks.

-Extra things needed: English textbooks or Japanese-English dictionaries

FOREVER LOVE- The girls are working a security center, and see some girls (Maimi and Erika dressed as robbers) running through the halls, and proceed to try and catch them. Regular Maimi and Erika guide the girls with their cellphones to robber Maimi and robber Erika, who keep evading them. At the end, the younger C-ute girls catch them right before they reach the exit.

-Downsides: There would be no room for a danceshot.

-Extra things needed: two robber costumes, a hall set with a turn and an exit (it can be reused for multiple shots from different angles), and fake cell phones (the chasing girls) and headmics (for regular Maimi and Erika)

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That's pretty much it...

-Midori

HIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI~!

I went to dohhh up today, thinking that this would be up, and it was! (Yays!)

I've already talked about the song and the costumes, so you'll have to deal with me not adressing them.

 

The good:

• The costumes: I'll sum up my opinion: They're pretty much pure awesomeness.
• The song: I love it. And the part after the dance break is very interesting.
• The dance shot: While the background is strikingly similar to Resonant Blue's color-wise, I really like how it looks, and how it makes the girls stand out, but not too much.
• The look: All the girls look fabulous in the dance shot when you put the whole hair-makeup-costume equation together, and my only complaint with it is Ai's excessively poofy hair. There should also be props to whoever decided to make those horrid cover outfits for the close-up so we barely have to see them. Also, Reina's nails scare me.
• The dance: While the dance is kind of boring, and the dance break is nothing spectacular, the dance is still complex and effective.
• The acting portions: While it's generally only them crying or standing there, their acting abilities seem to have improved.
• The artisticness: I really like how they took a more artistic approach to the close-up shots, while it's not the best I've seen, I still like how they at least tried something new.

The "I'm not so impressed"

• Resonant Blue-esque? Anyone? Does anyone else see the similarities to the resonant blue PV?
• The Budget: WON'T THEY GIVE MORNING MUSUME A BUDGET ALREADY?!?!?!

That's all I really have to say about it.

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-Midori

HELLO!

I was on wotachat, and Amy asked me if I had watched the PV yet. I had. It brought around a surprising new revelation:

If I prepare myself for it, I can handle Koha's voice. PanPancake is the exception to this, obviously, but anyway...

 

The Good:

• I really like her Pink and white "casual" outfit. It looks like something that she might actually wear. Maybe.
• The song is much more bearable than Panpancake, and it's slightly addicting.
• The PV actually had some kind of budget compared to some other recent ones... (Melon Kinenbi's)
• I'm warming up to the single costume. It's cute, but I absolutely hate that thing at the end where she pulls the kid's fairy wands out, and suddenly she has both angel wings, and a kid's butterfly cape thing.

The Bad:

• The fairy wand/angel wing/butterfly cape thing
• How overused is this concept for Koha's PVs? Koha playing around in a room.
• The fact that when Koha has her hair up in high pigtails and some random tulle, which obviously you can't get a hat over, she acts like she's going to put a ski hat of all things on. What?
• Her voice is still grating after listening to it a few times.
• The costume looks great from far away, but when you get to the up-close shots, it looks like flower-cake decorators attacked her wings, her sleeve cuffs, and her collar.
• What's with those four phone-dialing things at first?

Other observations:

• The whole concept is very similar to "Ne~e" by Ayaya- a girl getting ready for her first date, and dancing around a room.
• After seeing costume changes like she did in "Chance" where she actually changed her entire costume in the middle of the dance by just pulling a few clasps or fastening devices, seeing the epic fail of getting a butterfly cape just made this feel like it was trying to be as awesome, but failing.

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-Midori

Hello!!!

After an hour writing about Madame du Chatelet, I decided to go back to good 'ol Dohhh up and check for updates, and the new C-ute PV was up! YAYS! (Writing about a promiscuous 18th centure female scientist [not that I mind the female scientist part, but I wasn't lucky enough to have to write about that part of her life] who was a bad gambler for too long can't be good for the soul.)

I'm not in the mood to write too much, so this will be short.

 

The Great:

• The song (minus the chorus, which I'll address later)- I love it! It's the return of a more mature and awesome C-ute!
• The dance- again it's really good! It looks really hard, so I can predict that C-ute is going to own all the good H!P dances from now on.
• The outfits- They look awesome in the suits, I don't know why, but they do. The other outfits are modern, but not in a cute way.

The... I don't know

• The chorus- The rest of the song is kick ass, mature, and cool, so WHY make the chourus go back to bubblegum pop even in the slightest? WHY?
• The PV- When I saw the computers at the beginning, I was hopeful, but all this PV turned out to be was a few close ups with the rest being C-ute watching their own dance shot. So C-ute gets the better songs, but Berryz gets the better PV's?

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I said it was  going to be short!

-Midori

Hello again!

Yes, now for the Buono PV review!

 

The amazing:

• The song- It's really good, and it was love at first listen. I also really like the full version. All the extra guitar and rock sound makes it a ton better. And, as usual, it's simply amazing overall.
• Everything Buono!- The dancing and singing was impecable, the girls were cute, everything involving Buono in this was pure win!

The... not so amazing:

AKA: I can't believe I'd bash anything Buono, but I can blame those who made the PV, right?

• The PV- So this is where Berryz got their new found huge budget, huh? It's a glorifed dance-shot until about the 2nd verse when it becomes a glorified dance-shot/close-up.
• The costumes- they're too cutesy for Buono. I understand that this song is cutesier than any of Buono's other A-sides, but they could've made an effort to at least make them look badass. Seriously, making the most badass H!P kids group dress like 5-year-olds? And, to make it worse, the boots don't even match the costumes. If you're going to have an out-of-place costume, at least have shoes to match it!
• The dance- I don't know why, but this dance could've been harder and more badass too. Buono has good dancers, and they shouldn't have a dance made for the eggs. The dance break had it's great moments, but even it had moments way to easy for Buono.
• The stupid PV idea- I think what the director was channeling at the moment he came up with the concept was a low-budget dance-shot, that if you were drunk enough, could seem like it was a decent PV with more than a dance shot. Unfortunately, I'm under legal drinking age, and with all the drunk driving accidents involving people my age, I would rather not break that law. I guess this is supposed to be them being cutesy and appearing on a 60's TV show with costumes and a song completely out of the era? The only hint you have that they're supposed to be on a TV show is the cheesey 60's background and about 3 or 4 shots of TV cameras around the "set."
• The stupid, fake clapping at the beginning and end- seriously, if you want people to clap for a PV, you don't add these stupid clapping effects.

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Overall, this terror of a PV was just... bad. Hopefully they'll have another version on the single V.

-Midori

Hello!

Yes, I know that's an uncalled for title, but anyone who's ever looked at Danny Choo's otaku blog probably know all too well that some otaku in Japan like not school girls, but OLs (Office Ladies). It appears with Berryz's new PV, they're trying to appeal to this crowd this time, in full OL style.

This will be short, because Buono's new PV is also out. (And we all know how much I love Buono.)

The Good

• Extras- I really like the use of extras in H!P PVs, it shows that they have a good budget. The fact that this PV at least has a basic hint of a story going on in it with the girls being yelled at for goofing off shows that H!P PVs are again on the quality rise from a dance shot, a close up, and shots of the girls just messing around. Also, the extras actually get a good amount of screentime, unheard of in H!P PVs.
• The Budget- Again, the good costumes and the cool set make this PV nice to watch. Maybe this is what H!P was up to, firing the Elders Club?
• The Song- I like it. It's not my favorite Berryz song, but it's definately not my least favorite. It's good, and the slightly poppy, but slightly more mature pop sound fits Berryz's age group better.
• Momoko- FINALLY! She isn't filled with helium for a Berryz single!
• The dance- It's hard to call this either way when a PV doesn't have too much dance shot. (Which is good in a way.) I like the dance, and it looks very good and streamlined compared to previous dances in H!P kids PVs.

The Bad

• One of the non-regulars gets lines, but otherwise, only the 3 usual leads get any real singing time.

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Told you that was going to be short.

-Midori

Hello! Great news! Dohhh up has put not one, but two new PV's up. Since everyone has already gotten their two cents in on Berryz, I'll just post the PV and put my short thoughts out on it. >.>

But, Tan Tan Tan is out, and I LOVE IT TO DEATH!!!

Let's start with the Berryz-

 

I wasn't a fan of the original Berryz version, but I didn't hate it, I could listen to it for hours on end, but it was too short for me to fully enjoy it. This new PV is hilarious with the really fake sheep thing and I'm still really disappointed that there's no new footage of the Berryz, c'mon, UFA, how cheap can you get?

Now, for the awesomeness that is Tan Tan Tan-

This is the first single (outside of MM ones because she doesn't get too many solo lines compared to Ai and Reina, who I love) that I've been able to stand, and in fact, maybe enjoy Koha's voice a little. I'll show you the PV, and then it's to my PV list of doom!

 

The amazing-

• The song- itself is so refreshing and something that is poppy, but still nice and not too overdone. I think I could listen to this for more hours on end than any other recent H!P single besides Buono stuff.
• The tamborines- are a running theme for Milky Way, and I like them, no matter how much of an advertising gimmick they are; they're just so cute!
• The Eggs- are amazing. They get more lines than ever before in an H!P single A or B-side, and they live up to the responsibility wonderfully! They out shine Koha vocally, and they always sound so lovely! Their harmonizing and back-up to Koha makes her sound 100x better, like harmonizing is supposed to! I can't say how happy I am with these girls at the moment!
• Koha- has somehow made herself much less annoying (her voice is still annoying though), this might be due to the eggs, but who knows.
• The dance- is so cute and wonderful! It's different from what H!P normally does intensity wise, but it's just so cute and fun! During the parts with no singing, it gives the eggs some relatively equal time in the front, which is an improvement from Anataboshi. It keeps Koha in front 90% of the time, but since this is based on an anime that she's the main character of, I suppose it has to be that way.
• The costumes- are also extremely cute!

The Bad-

• The PV- is the only bad thing about this. Seriously, UFA, I know you can't hear me, but you're getting so cheap lately! Morning Musume, Milky Way, and Berryz's latest PVs, what the hell? Berryz didn't get any new footage for their PV, and half of it has a cheaply animated sheep just there. Milky Way's new PV is two sets, one that's some cheap CG, and is a glorified danceshot with close-ups thrown in here and there. The flagship group has an even WORSE PV if that's possible which IS a glofied dance shot! C'mon UFA, what the hell?

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That's it for today

-Midori