Hello! Project 2013 SUMMER COOL HELLO! - Sorezore / Mazekoze! -

This Blu-ray set contains two concerts, Sorezore! on Disc 1, Mazekoze! on Disc 2. Sorezore! is mostly comprised of standard sets from each of the five main groups--Morning Musume, Berryz Kobo, C-ute, S/mileage and Juice=Juice--with assist from Hello! Pro Kenshuusei (the Eggs). Both concerts are quite good, but Disc 2 is much better. The first hour of it is one of the best things I've seen from Hello! Project in years and includes the mix-and-match shuffle-style units I like so much in these concerts, so the girls get to sing lots of older H!P songs and work with members from other groups to form interesting and unique combos. Plus it's got four ensemble numbers featuring the whole company. This is the first time I've seen Juice=Juice join the other groups onstage for the big opening and closing ensemble numbers. And their members are included in the mix-and-match numbers on Disc 2. For me, that's a big step in finally accepting them as an integral part of Hello! Project. The other big development is simply the fact that the newer girls--i.e. those who've joined in the last three years--are on a par, performance-wise, with the older girls. There isn't as much of a distinction between the former Hello! Project Kids (Berryz Kobo and C-ute) and the newer girls as there was, once upon a time, between the Elder Club and the H!P Kids. There are no solos here by any of the members of the five groups. It's all about the group dynamics. The only soloist we see is Asahi Tasaki, who sings and plays the keyboard on one song and that's it. Highlights include: "Kiiroi Osora de BOOM BOOM BOOM," one of H!P's very first shuffle unit songs and featuring two girls from Juice=Juice in the unit, the first concert number to show the J=J girls performing in a unit with any of the others. "Iku ZYX! FLY HIGH," one of my all-time favorite H!P songs and performed here by two of H!P's star performers, Miyabi Natsuyaki and Riho Sayashi. "Magic of Love," an old Taiyo to Ciscomoon song (from 1999!) gives us a formidable six-girl grouping including the three designated belters from their respective groups: Risako Sugaya (Berryz), Chisato Okai (C-ute) and Meimi Tamura (S/mileage). Morning Musume comes out in great red-and-black outfits, with awesome berets, for a new song, "Ai no Gundan." It's arguably the best-choreographed piece in both concerts and one of the best numbers in the show.