Single V: Ai no Sono - Touch My Heart!

This DVD contains two versions of the video for "Ai no Sono~Touch My Heart!," the first of two singles released by Morning Musume Otome Gumi, which featured seven MM members: Kaori, Rika, Miki, Nono, Makoto, Sayumi, and Reina. This is one of my favorite MM songs, chiefly because it's the very first one I heard, as performed as the opening song at the Hello! Project Winter 2004 concert, and it will always hold a special place in my heart. The video is a nice one, with the girls in some very attractive costumes, esp. Rika's, and features them dancing in a set designed to look like a desert tent with torch lamps on the side and stone temple structures in the background. The dancing is fast and frenetic, but it's frequently interrupted by lame close-ups of the girls lolling about on fake sand in a dark studio. And, unfortunately, the alternate video included is a Close-up version restricted to exactly those shots! What's really needed here is a Dance Shot version, especially since Nono does some of her best dancing here and proves that she was indeed the best dancer in Morning Musume after Ai Takahashi. But we don't see enough of the dancing in the main video. That's why I give this 3 stars and not more. The DVD includes about five minutes of 'Making of' footage, including some funny bits with Nono and a delightful moment where Kaori pats super-cute Sayumi on the head. Aibon, visiting from the Sakura Gumi set ("Hare Ame Nochi Suki"), makes a cameo appearance with Rika.