Review by Madara
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HAROPURO PARTY! 2005 MATSUURA AYA CAPTAIN KOUENAya Matsuura, W (Double You), Melon KinenbiAibon and Nono rock with Aya & Melon K
Ever since Aibon (Ai Kago) was suspended from Hello! Project in February 2006, everything she did with Nono (Nozomi Tsuji) has become more and more valuable to me, especially this concert, which was performed six months before her suspension. The two of them, performing as W, are at their peak here and, even though Aya's the headliner, we get to see a lot of them. They sing only two songs together as W, apart from the others, but they each get solos and they perform a lot with Aya and the members of Melon Kinenbi. All told, one or both of them are in 17 numbers here. I especially liked their performance of "Robokiss" with Aya, where they get to spank her on the butt. (Thankfully, Aya has a great sense of humor and laughs frequently at their antics.) Aibon does a solo of Miki Fujimoto's "Boogie Train" and I think the song is better suited to her than Miki. Nono does a solo of Aya's "Ne~e?" and I have to say she out-Ayas Aya. In addition to the usual Aya numbers (e.g. "Yeah, Meccha Holiday") and some of Melon K's hits, the girls sing a lot of different songs from the H!P catalog. I found "Love Machine" and "All for One and One for All" to be odd choices for a seven-girl lineup, but in the case of "Love Machine," they at least perform the entire song, which usually gets the whole second verse cycle cut out in most live performances of it. Plus, there are specially written new solo lines for each of the girls, making it the longest performance of "Love Machine" I've ever seen. Everyone's in great form here and all seven seem to fuel each other's energy. This is the first time I've seen so much of Aya outside of her own solo concerts and she really seems to enjoy working with the others. Granted, she gets most of the attention and the crowd chants her name most of the time, but it IS her 19th birthday after all (June 25, 2005) and they bring out a cake for her at one point. If I have any complaint, it's that the camera keeps cutting away from Aibon and Nono, even when they get solo lines in some of the ensemble songs. This would have been a perfect opportunity to include an alternate angle feature on the DVD with a camera maintained on those two for the entire concert, just for fans like me.
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Bye Bye Bye! [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]CuteThis one contains the Dance Shot Ver.
I was a bit disappointed with the Single Video release of this song, since it didn't have the Dance Shot Version as an alternate, only a distinctly unimaginative Close-up version, in which the girls were presented rather blandly, with no special attention to hairstyle, makeup, or outfits. The Dance Shot version is included here on a supplementary DVD and it's the one to get. It's a very good dance piece, with echoes of earlier eras of female dance units, and the girls are dressed in snazzy and attractive silver outfits. It's not a great song, though, nor is it quite up to the caliber of their previous dance single, "Forever Love," chiefly because they shunt Saki Nakajima and Erika Umeda off to the sides here. Which is a shame in Saki's case because she's clearly the best dancer in C-ute and arguably one of the best dancers in Hello! Project entirely. Why they don't give her more to do is beyond me. (Of course, if they'd managed to hold onto Megumi Murakami, C-ute would have had TWO great dancers and not just one.) As a result, this release gets only three stars from me, rather than four. (I'd already taken a star off because they made me double dip with this one just to get the Dance Shot version.) Kanna Arihara's absent from this video, reportedly out sick, so there's only six of them here.
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Single V "Dakishimete Dakishimete"Berryz KoboBerryz' best video yet
The Berryz girls dance up a storm in this one and the DVD includes the Dance Shot Version, easily the best high-energy dance number these girls have done and better than most of Morning Musume's output of the last two years. The girls all look and sound great. They each wear individualized costumes and accessories (leggings, skirts, shorts, jackets, boots, hats, chokers, etc.), with a quirky quality and mix of patterns and color schemes designed to complement each other and look great in a dance lineup. In the main video, the dance shots are intercut with individual shots of each girl dancing against CGI backgrounds, some nice closeups of each of them, and some very cool posed runway-style shots. There's a DJ theme to the number, with a turntable and columns of giant speakers. There's good production quality here and it's a well-made video. Plus, the song is a very catchy, danceable tune. The Dance Shot Version edges out the main video by a small margin simply because the dancing is so well staged, shot and edited. Why can't the crew that shoots the videos be in charge of shooting the concerts as well? There's 17 minutes of "Making of" footage and it's all delightful. These girls have great rapport with each other and are fun to watch, no matter what they do. Each of the girls gets significant play in both the video and the "Making of" part. No one dominates in the way that Maimi and Airi are routinely given center stage in the C-ute videos. Momoko stands out because she's just so awesome-looking with that strong jaw and jutting chin and those piercing eyes. Not to mention the black and red ensemble outfit. The others are all pretty spectacular, too. Berryz is easily Hello! Project's most important unit after MM and may eventually outclass them.
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Hello! Project 2009 Winter Kettei! Halo Pro Award 09' - Elder Club Sotsugyo Kinen Special -Hello! ProjectThe big Elder Club graduation special!
This is the follow-up to the 2-disc "Hello! Project 2009 Winter Wonderful Hearts Koen-Kakumei Gannen/Elder Club Koen-Thank you for your LOVE!" set which offered the Winter 2009 Wonderful Hearts and Elder Club concerts. This set offers the big combined concert with the tear-filled Elder Club graduation ceremony. At 174 min., it's the longest H!P concert I've ever seen. The second disc here contains the backstage footage for all three concerts. At 64 min., it's the longest "Making of" disc I've ever seen. It's great seeing such a wealth of talent in one massive arena. There are a total of 49 headline performers, not counting the Hello! Pro Eggs and a couple of novelty guest acts, IceCream Musume and Frances & Aiko, both of which I could have done without. Some of the numbers are identical to numbers performed in the earlier two concerts, although there is plenty of new stuff. The high point for me is the recreation of the Morning Musume Sakura Gumi and Otome Gumi units, in the exact costumes these units wore at the MM Spring 2004 "Best of Japan" concert. The songs performed here, "Hare Ame Nochi Suki" and "Ai no Sono~Touch My Heart," hold a special place for me because they were the very first numbers in the very first H!P concert (Winter 2004) I saw and, thus, my very first exposure to MM. The 7-member Otome Gumi unit here is intact, while the Sakura Gumi unit is missing only one, Aibon. Four members who were absent from the 2008 winter concerts are back in this one: Kaori Iida, Miki Fujimoto, Nozomi "Nono" Tsuji, and Makoto Ogawa. I was really happy to see Nono onstage again, the first time since she left in 2007 to get married and have her baby. Other highlights: MM's 5th Gen reunites to do "Suki na Sempai." The three remaining founding members of MM (Yuko, Kaori, Nacchi) do "Morning Coffee." "Koko ni Iruzee" is performed by 10 former MM members plus two current, Ai-chan and Risa. Mai Satoda does a Country Musume song, "Honey Pie," backed by the four junior members of Ongaku Gatas. Yuki Maeda has a really nice solo. I still don't understand why the Elder Club is being forced to "graduate." Why can't they just come back every year for a concert like this at winter time? I also don't like the way the three concerts and backstage disc were split up into two separate sets and not the 4-disc set like we got in 2007 and 2008. It's more expensive this way.
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Hello! Project 2009 Winter Wonderful Hearts Koen - Kakumei Gannen - / Elder Club Koen - Thank you for your LOVE! -Hello! ProjectTwo great concerts in one set
This 2-disc box set contains the first two Hello! Project winter concerts from January 2009: "Wonderful Hearts," featuring Morning Musume, Berryz, C-ute and the other younger acts, and Elder Club, featuring the older solo stars and former MM members, from Yuko, Nacchi and Yuki to Aya, Miki and Rika. Both concerts are filled with great stuff and are highly recommended. The girls all look and sound great and the many costume changes are quite dazzling. The Wonderful Hearts concert is full of high energy and fast-paced numbers with the younger girls singing and dancing up a storm. In contrast, the Elder Club is a little softer, more emotional and somewhat low-key, but filled with heartfelt singing by some of H!P's greatest performers. Wonderful Hearts (112 min.) suffers from some sugary anime-themed acts in its first 30 min., but it picks up steam and hits its groove at the 52-min. mark with MM's "Naichau Kamo." Highlights: A new take on "Mr. Moonlight" with Ai Takahashi taking the male role and singing to a group of girls selected from Berryz, C-ute and the H!P Eggs. MM's first live performance of "Naichau Kamo," which debuted as a single the next month. A truly great dance piece. "Mikan," with MM joined by Risako from Berryz and Maimi from C-ute, who sing the leads and do a fine job. A recreation of ZYX's "Shiroi Tokyo," with Risa taking on Mari's role, joined by five members of Berryz and C-ute who weren't in the original ZYX. Maimi's solo. Wow! The Elder Club concert (126 min.) is one of the last times these women will all be performing together and it colors the choice of material and the performing style. The show opens with "I Wish" and closes with "Never Forget," which tells you what the emotional tone is like. Highlights: Ten former members of MM do several songs together. They include Asami Konno and Makoto Ogawa, as well as Miki Fujimoto and Kaori Iida. The other six are Yuko, Nacchi, Kei, Mari, Yossi and Rika. The medley includes "Love Machine," on which five of those present originally performed. Reunions of Tanpopo, Pucchimoni & Biyuden and a recreation of Aoiro 7. Yuki and Atsuko belt out "Magic of Love." Melon Kinenbi performs a few songs including "Give Me Up," which was sung by W on their first album. There is no backstage footage on either disc in the set. The full Elder Club graduation special is on another DVD set and I'll review that when I get it.
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Hello! Project 2005 Natsu no Kayo Show - Selection! Collection!Hello! Project46 H!P performers on one stage = sublime
This is easily one of the best Hello! Project concerts I've ever seen. Taped on July 24, 2005, it appears to be the first time the older performers are grouped into a semblance of the "Elder Club," long before that label was formalized, and also the first time we see the members of Berryz Kobo and C-ute come into their own as full-fledged participants in an H!P concert, performing in multiple numbers with the older girls. As such, this concert seems to be the model for the "Wonderful Hearts" and "Elder Club" winter concerts we'd start seeing in 2007. It's also significant for being one of the last big concerts with Aibon and Nono before Aibon's suspension and it also features Koharu's first concert performance after joining Morning Musume two months earlier. An interesting strategy here is the mix-and-match approach to many of the numbers as solo stars and girls from varied groups are put together in different combos to perform songs from the H!P catalog. The opening and closing sets feature the full ensemble--46 girls in all, not counting the 24 Hello! Pro Eggs--opening the concert with the "Hello Morning" theme song and closing it with the magnificent "All for One and One for All." Both opening and closing sets feature the girls in eye-popping "Pop Art"-style outfits. Other highlights: 1) Aibon and Maki singing the leads on MM's hit, "The Manpower." 2) "Love Machine" performed by 8 former MM members, including 5 of the originals (Yuko, Kaori, Natsumi, Kei, Maki). But Mari is missing. 3) Morning Musume opening their set with the best performance ever of "Iroppoi Jettai," their then-newest single, in snazzy new costumes. 4) Biyuden looking absolutely stunning in sexy gold cocktail dresses as they sing "Hitorijime." 5) The 2005 Shuffle Units, the best being Elegies (Ai Takahashi, Reina Tanaka, Ayumi Shibata, Mai Satoda). 6) Anything with Nono in it. 7) 12 minutes of delightful backstage footage. But everything else is pretty awesome as well. The MC segments feature Sharan Q drummer Makoto and Mari Yaguchi, who'd been kicked out of MM earlier in the year. These segments are thankfully short and few, which allows for more musical numbers, a total of 28. Still, the concert is way too short--only 107 min. It could have used solos by Yuko and Yuki, and separate numbers for both C-ute and Country Musume. But it's still a great concert and one filled with abundant joy.
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Petit Best (Pucchi Best) 9 DVDHello! ProjectHello! Project sampler from 2008
I believe this is the first Petit Best collection where the "Elder Club" performers are overshadowed by Hello! Project's younger girls. There are only five videos out of the 14 with Elder Club performers in them: "Nanni mo Iwazu ni I Love You," by Biyuden; Aya Matsuura's "Kizuna" solo video; Ongaku Gatas' "Come Together," which is, in itself, heavily weighted with former H!P Eggs; "16sai no Koi Nante," Nacchi's duet with C-ute's Maimi Yajima; and a clip of Melon Kinenbi live on stage doing "Charisma, Kirei." Of those five, there are only three that are exclusively Elder Club--the Biyuden and Aya videos and the Melon Kinenbi stage clip, which shouldn't really count, since it's not a video, just a performance clip. And of the five, only the Ongaku Gatas video is among the best in the collection. I like Aya's song and performance very much, but the video has no imagination whatsoever. I should point out that the Nacchi/Maimi video here is different from the one for the same song that's included on the Special Units Mega Best DVD. Also, a different Nacchi/Maimi song is included on the Petit Best 9 CD and not this one. Morning Musume is represented by one video, the main video for "Resonant Blue," which is basically a dance shot version and the best of the three or four versions of that video they did. MM members are in four other videos in this collection, but two of them are Koharu's anime-themed videos and another finds Risa and Aika with two C-ute members in another anime promo video. My favorite pieces out of the 14 are the first three: "Resonant Blue" by MM; Berryz Kobo's "Mongolian Dance Shot Ver." of the "Dschinghis Khan" video; and C-ute's "Edo no Temari Uta II." MilkyWay's "Anataboshi" is very catchy and has some nice dancing by Koharu and her two partners, Sayaka Kitahara and Yuu Kikkawa. Buono's "Renai Rider" is a lot of fun, too, and gives us Airi from C-ute and Momoko and Miyabi from Berryz. The Ongaku Gatas video has great dancing and nice costumes, plus it gives us Yossi and Rika. Finally, High-King's "C/C Cinderella/Complex" is worth singling out for the cool red-and-black costumes and the chance to see two of H!P's best dancers, Ai Takahashi and Saki Shimizu, in one video, along with C-ute's Maimi, MM's Reina and an H!P Egg. You may want to get the Petit Best 9 CD as well--it has three more tracks than the DVD, including a Miki Fujimoto solo.
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LIVE REVOLUTION 21 SPRING-Oosaka jo hall last day-Morning MusumeEarly MM concert, last of the Yuko era
This was the greatest concert from Yuko Nakazawa's tenure in Morning Musume (1997-2001) and also the very last, since it's her graduation concert. It was only the 3rd MM concert I ever saw and is the one pre-2002 concert I'd most recommend to new fans. Except for one slow spot, it's a lively concert with 26 songs and features most of MM's pre-5th Gen hits, including one of the best performances ever of the entire "Love Machine," which is generally shortened in later concerts. MM doesn't come out to perform as a group until the 37-min. mark when they do "Happy Summer Wedding," followed by a rare concert performance of one of my favorites, "Say Yeah (Motto) Miracle Night." Before that, we get a steady stream of sub-groups and solos--11 songs performed by Minimoni, Pucchimoni, Tanpopo, Country Musume (with Rika Ishikawa), Yuko, Maki Goto, Michiyo Heike and a very young Aya Matsuura. These are all good numbers, although the opening song, Minimoni's "Jankenpyon," is lip sync'd. If it wasn't for the sub-groups, 4th Gen (Rika, Yossi, Nono and Aibon) would have little to do here, reduced as they are to back-up in most of the MM songs. The five non-MM performers here are Aya, Michiyo, Minimoni's Mika Todd, and Country Musume's Rinne Toda and Asami Kimura. The one slow spot is a 16-min. "mini-musical" at the 54-min. mark entitled "Akogare My Boy." If you don't speak Japanese, this is a hard one to get through. Yuko plays a teacher and comes out in an awesome-looking white suit, so there's a reason to stick with it. The DVD extras feature a different cast doing "Akogare My Boy" and, hence, a different cast starting the follow-up song, "Dance Suru no Da!" Plus, there's a karaoke video for a song I can't identify. MM does a total of 13 songs, including their first hit, "Morning Coffee." Not counting outfits worn in the other acts, MM has at least six costume changes, including beautiful blue satin mini-dresses with white boots at the 48-minute mark. At the end, they sing "I Wish" and then Yuko does a solo, followed by the graduation, which consists of Yuko going down the line of the other nine girls and wishing them well. (They all cry, even Yossi.) The concert closes with the graduation, with no additional songs, ending with a whimper rather than a bang. After Yuko left, 5th Gen came on board, 4th Gen took a more active role, and the rest is history. :)
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Morning Musume Concert Tour 2002 Spring "LOVE IS ALIVE!" at Saitama Super ArenaMorning MusumeOne of MM's greatest concerts
This was only the second Morning Musume concert I ever saw and it solidified my resolve to enter MM fandom. I've gone back to it many times in the years since and it remains one of my favorites. This concert is from that golden year (2001-2002) after 5th Gen had joined and Maki Goto was still in the group. And 5th Gen gets to do a lot here. And to make it even more spectacular, Miki Fujimoto, the best member of 6th Gen, is seen performing solo a full year before she actually joined MM. All of MM's great hits from that time are here, kicking things off to a rousing start with "Souda We're Alive," and including "Renai Revolution 21," "The Peace," "Love Machine," "Mr. Moonlight," and "Happy Summer Wedding," along with other songs from their then-current fourth album, "Ikimasshoi!" There are nine songs performed by seven other acts (Tanpopo, Minimoni, Pucchimoni, etc.,) but most of those consisted of MM members, either all or in part. The only truly non-MM acts are Coconuts Musume, which sings "Summer Night Town" in English, and Miki Fujimoto, who would, of course, eventually join MM. There are six costume changes and I love the colorful outfits they come out in for "The Peace" and "Love Machine" about halfway through the concert: satin yellow blouses with loose-fitting white satin pants with blue stripes, topped by cute white caps or visors and red neck scarves with white polka dots. Attractive but also very comfortable. If I have any problem with the concert it's that some of the numbers could use more wide shots to show the dancing. In the final number, "Honki de Atsui Theme Song," they're all dancing in unison and the camera simply cuts to medium close shots of each of the 13 girls as they dance. No long shots. Frustrating. It's not as bad here in most of the numbers as it is in other concerts, though. The concert is 103 min. and it's pretty much non-stop song performance. There are a few short MC bits, with the girls each doing shout-outs, but no long skits or dialogue segments. The one DVD extra is a split-screen performance of "Souda We're Alive" seen from four different angles. There were only two more concerts after this where MM still had members from all of the group's first five generations. Once Maki graduated later that year, on her birthday, Sept. 23, 2002, 3rd Gen would be gone forever.
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Petit (Pucchi) Best 3 DVDHello! ProjectAbove-average Petit Best collection
The Petit Best 3 DVD is one of the better Petit Best collections. For one thing, it's got four of my favorite H!P videos. For another, five out of the 14 videos feature Rika Ishikawa. Other favorite performers featured in multiple videos include Maki, Ai-chan, Risa, Aibon, Nono and Ayumi Shibata, all of whom are in four each. What's not to love? It starts out with the three "Shiawase"-themed Shuffle Unit videos from 2002. One of those is "Shiawase Desu ka?," the darkly romantic song that was later sung by Maki as a solo and remains one of my favorite H!P songs. Here it's sung by Sexy 8, which consists of Maki, Rika, Mari, Yossi, Ayaka Kimura, Masae Ohtani, and Mai Satoda. Another is "Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondo," by Odoru 11, the one where some of H!P's most attractive performers (including Nacchi, Aya, Miki, Kaori, Ayumi, and Rinne Toda) put on blond or amber wigs and mini-dresses and boots and dance around "ondo"-style on a stage set built to resemble a traditional Japanese fairground. The 2 other favorites: "Do It! Now," one of Morning Musume's all-time best videos, from when Maki was still in the group, and "Be Happy," by Tanpopo, a sub-group which, by this point, consisted of Rika, Risa, Asami Konno and Ayumi. "Be Happy" is a sprightly, fun song and it has great dancing by the four, plus the loveliest red spring costumes. There are solo videos by Yuko, Maki, Aya, Miki, and Michiyo Heike. They're all well-done, with a lot more production value and costume changes than we'd get in later solo videos. Check out Miki's metallic silver mini-dress ("Romantic Ukare Mode"). Maki is backed by Melon Kinenbi in the dance parts of her video ("Yaruki! It's Easy"). Group acts seen in videos include Minimoni (with Ai Takahashi and four of the H!P Kids), Country Musume (with Rika), and Melon Kinenbi. The Minimoni one includes animated versions of the girls, while the Country Musume one features great dance costumes for Rika, Asami Kimura and Mai Satoda. The MK song is basically a solo by Ayumi, with backup by her three groupmates--all in great outfits. Finally, there's the Hawaiian Medley with MM and Coconuts Musume, plus Miki and Rika Ishii, all in performance with Boo Takagi, an older guy who strums a ukelele and gets a lot of affection from the girls as they go through a Hawaiian-inflected medley of MM favorites. All in all, a great way to spend an hour.
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Single V: Forever LoveCuteGreat dancing in C-ute video
C-ute did three great videos in 2008 and I don't know which is the best, "Forever Love" or "Edo no Temari Uta II." (The other is "Namida no Iro.") "Edo" is the cutest song and has the most colorful costumes and imaginative dance moves, but "Forever Love" offers a dance routine that just may be the best ensemble piece C-ute has ever done (so far). The choreography has the kind of drive and energy I'd like to see in more pop dance numbers and the girls pull it off like the finely-tuned performance unit they have become. In the main video, the girls wear two sets of costumes. When we first see them, they're all in black suits, white shirts, and ties, with black high-top sneaker boots, and they watch footage of themselves on computer monitors doing the main dance routine in different outfits comprised of more casual sportswear, but still very stylish (especially the outfits worn by Maimi, Airi, Saki, and Maimai). At different points in the video they're seen dancing in the black suits and I must say those suits make them the coolest-looking I've ever seen them. The "Casual Dance Ver." only shows the dance routine in the more casual outfits. It's basically a Dance Shot version that allows us to see the full dance routine performed in medium long shot with minimal cuts. This is exactly how I want Dance Shot versions to be presented. Just put them out there, give them some great choreography, let them loose, and nail the camera down and shoot. Both versions of the video are enormous fun to watch. The dancing is some of the best I've ever seen them do. The videos are followed on the DVD by five minutes of "Making of" footage, which is not nearly enough. Berryz Kobo had 16 min. of Making of footage on their "Madayade" Single-V. C-ute deserves at least that much. That's why I give this four out of five stars, deducting one for being so stingy with the Making of footage.
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Single V: MadayadeBerryz KoboStylish costumes and great dancing
Yet another great dance video from Berryz Kobo, "Madayade" offers two versions of the video, plus a solid 16 minutes of "Making of" footage. The main video shows the girls all decked out in full OL (Office Lady) garb and actually sitting at desks and supposedly working, with white supervisors, both male and female, hovering over them. They read the English-language Japan Times (Maasa), carry water trays (Chinami), answer phones (Yurina), and sit at the computer intently typing (Saki). Risako sits there doing her makeup and Momoko munches on snacks. At some point, they all basically stop working. Miyabi throws her papers up in the air and Yurina sits basking in the fall of U.S. dollar bills around her. This is all intercut with the dance routine, with them dressed in very cute color-coded dresses (yellow, orange, pink and red) with matching satin neck scarves, doing the main dance number. And it's a good one. The song is fun, too, with a nice surf guitar riff in it. The Dance Shot version leaves out the office footage and shows them in their attractive dance costumes doing the dance routine only, well-lit in medium long-shot, photographed from different angles, but all well chosen. They've become very good at this kind of video, just as C-ute has (check out "Forever Love," which has a very similar structure). Both groups have gotten far better at these kinds of numbers than the current lineup of Morning Musume (which has been working together for much less time than the lineups of Berryz and C-ute have). One of the great things about this video is the way every one of the Berryz girls gets bits of business in the office part, solo lines in the song, and solo moves in the dance part. They're a true ensemble unit and no one's spotlighted more than the others. Risako's more often at the head of the group than I'd like, but not enough to overshadow any of the others. And they all look awesome in their Office Lady outfits. At 16 minutes, the "Making of" footage runs longer than usual for these Single-V's, which is fine with me. The more the merrier. In fact, I was upset with C-ute's otherwise wonderful "Forever Love" Single-V because it had only five minutes of Making of footage.
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Single V: Koi no VacanceW (Double You)Aibon and Nono enchant us in plaid
This was W's first PV and it's a cover of an old song by the classic J-pop duo, the Peanuts. The video's a lot of fun as we see Aibon and Nono in red plaid skirts against a variety of backdrops, some created in the studio and some provided by CGI. One of the real backdrops is a pink wall covered by an interesting collage of magazine illustration cut-outs. The Dance Shot version is included and it shows the two of them performing the entire number against a large butterfly backdrop. I'd been delighted by the brief bits of dancing we see in the main video, so I was very happy to see the full dance sequence in the alternate version. The "Making of" portion is only seven-and-a-half minutes, which only whets our appetite for more. The girls are more restrained here than in the "Making of" sections of their later PV's. They do this clapping routine with the crew at the end of the shoot, something we'll see repeated in later "Making of" sections on their videos.
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Single V: Robo KissW (Double You)Entertaining video from Aibon and Nono
"Robo Kiss" is the most elaborate of W's videos and probably the biggest budgeted. It has something of a storyline and makes generous use of special effects to create a whole roomful of Aibon and Nono robot duplicates. In one great shot, Nono even pushes herself out of the way. Berryz Kobo makes a cameo appearance as backup dancers for the robot duplicates as they appear on TV. The alternate version of the video included on the DVD is called "Happy ver." and is simply a single take of Aibon and Nono singing to the camera in a big white room and jockeying with each other for closeups. It's a delightful piece also, although none of it was used in the main video. The seven-minute "Making of" portion featured on the DVD is shorter than I'd like. Why not twelve minutes like "Koi no Fuga" had? I simply can't get enough of their antics. Aibon and Nono do robot voices for the camera. They rehearse their dances. Aibon lies down on a couch and puts her head on Nono's lap. Berryz is seen entering the studio, doing their dance and leaving. They're so impeccably polite to everybody and absolutely adorable. From shots of the camera crew shooting the dances, we learn that the actual PV was shot on 35mm film, not video, and, hence, one reason it looks so good.
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Single V: Koi no FugaW (Double You)W video with lots of "Making of" footage
This song is, like "Koi no Vacance," another W cover of an old song by the pioneering J-pop duo, the Peanuts. The video is basically the two performers, Aibon and Nono, in white outfits dancing and singing amidst a welter of brightly-colored 1960s-style graphics. It's a short song (2:35) and the Dance Shot version is included. In the dance version, they're in very nice white dresses against a backdrop of concentric circles with yellow in the middle, and the colors changing shade by shade in each circle to orange and then red. The choreography is not the most intricate but the girls are more intense here than usual and that counts for something. The DVD contains 12 minutes of "Making of" footage, the longest "Making of" section on any of W's Single-V's, and the only thing that would make me happier is if it were even longer. Their comic antics are so delightful to watch. There's a great Aibon moment as she dances alone around a series of colored columns doing balletic skips and leaps, culminating in a split. Beautiful. Later, she and Nono perform an action for the camera and then embrace afterwards with Aibon planting a long kiss on Nono's cheek. We see a crewman put a jacket on Aibon as she watches herself on a video monitor, a rare instance in which we see a crew member actually DO something for the girls. (Why was it always so COLD on these shoots?) Aibon leads a funny clapping routine with the crew at the end of the shoot. Great stuff. These are two of my favorite entertainers and the breakup of this duo remains extremely upsetting to me--even after three years. So I buy all the Single-V's so I can see more of them in the alternate video versions and the "Making of" footage. Every little bit helps.
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Single V: Ai no Imi wo Oshiete!W (Double You)Great for the "Making of" part
Aibon and Nono wear cute red outfits and sing and dance amidst graphics meant to simulate the inside of a computer. Not much happens in the video and the setting never changes. The Dance Shot version is included as well, but it's not much different from the main video. The girls are as adorable as always, but from a production standpoint, this is easily the least interesting of all of W's videos, although the song isn't bad. However, the "Making of" portion is eleven minutes long, the second longest "Making of" section on any of W's Single-V's. (The longest is the 12 min. section included on the "Koi no Fuga" DVD) The girls make faces. They play with a video camera and some miniature props. We see the circles of light bulbs that create the effects in the eyes that we see in so many Hello! Project videos. Even in the random backstage footage we get the most beautiful of Aibon closeups. If you're a fan of these girls, this stuff is priceless. I wish there were more of it.
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Single V: Miss Love TanteiW (Double You)Aibon & Nono shine in great W video
Of the W videos released as Single-V's, "Miss Love Tantei" ranks with "Robokiss" as the best of them. A more mature-style song than W had performed before, it's got a great dance beat to it and some hiphop elements, including a nice rap verse that the girls perform well. The video is more elaborate than most and, like "Robokiss," has something of a storyline, this time involving "love detectives." It offers three costume changes, including shots of Aibon and Nono in schoolgirl outfits and "ganguro" makeup. And a clever Robokiss-like effects shot where the two of them sit opposite their ganguro doubles. Nono's main costume is quite a sexy one, a rare acknowledgment on the part of management that she was finally growing up. (She was 18 at the time this was shot.) The Dance Shot version of the video is included here and it's got to be one of the best things these two have ever done. Just put the girls in front of the camera and let them dance and sing a great song with minimal cutting and no camera tricks and you've got magic. The "Making of" portion on the DVD is only 8 min. long and we could have used more. These bits are often the most entertaining glimpses we get of Aibon and Nono. At one point, Nono takes the huge diamond ring that's a prop in the video and puts it on her finger--a neat foreshadowing of her marriage two years later to actor Taiyo Sugiura.
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Morning Musume. Tanjo 10 Nen Kinentai Concert Tour 2007 Natsu Thank You My DearestMorning Musume. Tanjo 10 Nen KinentaiGreat concert with five of MM's best
This is a wonderful concert performed in the summer of 2007 by the five-woman unit, Morning Musume Tanjo 10nen Kinentai, formed to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of Morning Musume and consisting of MM graduates Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, and Maki Goto, and current MM members Risa Niigaki and Koharu Kusumi. So we have five of the greatest beauties in Hello! Project and three of the greatest voices (Maki, Nacchi, Kaori). They sing both of the singles this unit released, "Bokura ga Ikiru My Asia" and "Itoshiki Tomo e," as well as 20 other songs, more than half of them from the earliest days of the Morning Musume songbook, including "Mirai no Tobira," "Daite Hold on Me," and "Happy Summer Wedding." Each of the girls gets their own solo as well. The girls look fantastic, the costumes are dazzling, the songs fit them well and the singing is sweet. Koharu is as spirited as ever, but the presence of the older girls seems to keep her from getting too aggressive. And her solo is live, not lip-sync'd (yaaayyy!!!). There are comparatively few high-energy numbers ("Love Machine" is one of them--another Yaaay!), but with a group like this, their sheer charisma more than makes up for it. Besides, I like the slower, gentle numbers anyway. Kaori was pregnant at the time (surely a Hello! Project first), so her participation in the concert is limited to a few numbers, including a beautiful solo. But when she's onstage, her beauty, elegance, grace, and class shine out on us. This is especially poignant in light of the tragedy that would befall her baby in July 2008. (A tragedy we only learned about in late November.) If I have any serious complaint with the DVD presentation--and one that's enough to deduct a star off the rating--it's the camerawork. You'd think that with five girls or fewer at any time onstage the camera crew would know how to line up a medium shot so that we could see all the girls together, especially during the crucial dance numbers. No such luck. We get close-ups that are way too close (we'd like to SEE the girls AND their costumes, thank you) and long shots that are way too long. And the switching (cutting back and forth between camera angles) is much too fast. When one of the five is singing a solo verse, is it too much to ask the director to keep one camera on her until she's finished? In any event, the concert is still highly recommended.
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Hello! Project Shuffle Unit Mega Best [CD+DVD]Hello! ProjectSolid mix of some of H!P's best videos
I happened to have most of these videos already on other collections, but I bought this one to finally get the videos for the three 2003 shuffle units, "Kowarenai," by 7Air; "Get Up! Rapper," by Salt5; and "Be All Right!," by 11Water, videos which I had never even seen before. And they're pretty awesome, even if "Get Up! Rapper" was even more impressive when performed live on stage as seen on the "Hello! Project 2003 Natsu - Yossha! Bikkuri Summer!!" concert DVD. For those of you who don't have the shuffle unit videos on other DVDs, this set will be a most valuable addition to your collection. Of the other shuffle unit videos, my favorites include "Summer Reggae Rainbow," by 7nin Matsuri (the Caribbean-flavored one); "Dancing! Natsu Matsuri," by 10nin Matsuri (the Japanese drumming one); "Shiawase desu ka?," by Sexy 8 (the melancholy one in the rain); "Shiawase Kyouruu Ondo," by Odoru 11 (the one with the blond and pink wigs); "Onna, Kanashii, Otona," by Sexy Otonajan (the one with Megumi Murakami); and "Inshouha Renoir no You ni," by Elegies (the one with Ai-chan's great dancing). I only previously had these last two in their Dance Shot versions, included on the Petit Best 6 DVD, so it was nice to finally see the original videos.
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Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Aki - Resonant Live -Morning MusumeHigh marks for MM's current lineup
I was pleasantly surprised by how good this concert was. I tend to be a bit cautious in my praise for the current Morning Musume lineup, but this concert seemed intent on playing up the group's considerable strengths as an ensemble unit. Granted, they'll never offer the wildly disparate personalities that made so many past concerts such a joy (esp. 2002-2004), but this concert certainly proves that these nine girls can band together and put on a dazzling show when they want to. It's a fast paced 108-minute concert, with lots of high-energy dance numbers and 13 costume changes, with some particularly attractive ones among them. The girls look absolutely gorgeous throughout, especially Ai-chan, the group leader. There are 23 songs total, with 16 of them performed by the entire lineup, meaning seven songs done as solos or smaller units. Ai-chan and Aika each get solos. Ai-chan, Risa, and Reina form a trio for one delightful number, "Take Off is Now." Many of the songs were unfamiliar to me, which meant lots of fresh material. And the three old classics added to the show ("Souda, We're Alive," "My Dear Boy," and "Koko ni Iruzee") are well-chosen. The girls all seem to be having a great time and each of them gets their moments to shine. There are no MC's (yaaay!!!) and the only non-MM performers are Koharu's two sidekicks in Milky Way, Sayaka Kitahara and Yuu Kikkawa. The extras consist of three numbers evidently performed in other shows on the tour: a solo by Risa of "Indigo Blue Love" and two additional versions of "Lemon Iro to Milk Tea," one with Eri taking the lead and one with Sayumi. (Reina did the lead in the version seen in the main concert.)