Stage by Stage ~K3~

So, I thought that there should be at least one post about something different between the Stage by Stages and here I am, bringing you K3 after two little PVs.

Sometimes I get crazy and think about reviewing the new DVD Boxset but then I think about how I don’t know how most songs were originally performed and then I’m sure that there will be a time when a concert review finds its way onto this blog but it’s not here yet.

So let’s first look at Team K’s 3rd Stage Nounai Paradise

I don’t really like that shot but it shows you best that they are really using some instruments for the opening song Tomo yo. And because I feel like it you get to see even more pictures because they look really nice using them.

It's Sayaka and the other girl. I don't have the slightest clue...

I could just guess who she is but I don't want to make a fool out of myself so I won't >_>°

Tomo yo is a kind of slow pop song but it’s really nice. I mean the chorus really gets stuck in your head but if I want to be honest I’d have to say that the instruments help the song a lot. And Tomomi Kasai on the harmonica is a picture for gods. She looks like she had never done anything different.

The next song is already the title song for this Stage Nounai Paradise. They had to undress a bit so there was this little intro where they were jumping and running around the stage until everyone was ready. It was really cute and the intro sounded a bit like it could have been the opening music for some 70’s TV series. The song itself is really infectious because of this couting numbers and weekdays. And there was this little funny part in the dance when there was happening a kind of chain reaction :3 Just mentioning.
Ki ni Naru Tenkousei starts off as a very cute and sweet song but gets poppier after a bit. I like that the voices aren’t as high as when they beginn singing and even this song got it’s own catch phrase so won’t forget it. Ever.
Everybody hey hey!

With Naki Nagara Hohoen de we see the first solo song in an AKB48 Stage and it’s sung by Yuko Oshima. Man, I could have made pictures from that performance for hours, she just looks so beautiful. The song is of course a ballad and I have to say that Yuko really surprised me. I never payed much attention to it but I didn’t expect her to have such a voice. I knew that she had to be a somewhat good singer for a solo but this voice is just perfect for this kind of song. I thought she would have a more powerful and not so girly voice but I guess she can do more than this. But she does this song pretty great even though is this high note that isn’t really my taste but I don’t think it’s sung badly or anything.  Beautiful song <3

MARIA is a pain in the ass when it comes to making good pictures from the DVD performance for your effing review. So I just give you this crappy pic and hope that you are interested enough to watch the performance. Because this is one great song. It has power and melody and guitars. What do you want more? The performance is also kind of cool (with some weird moments) because when they first appear Ayaka Umeda and Tomomi Kasai position those two big mirrors behind them and it’s a bit funny to see the audience in those said mirrors. Also they got those not-microphone-stands. It’s like they just have long sticks attached to their microphones. But that’s important for the whole dance which is really cool but you have to make your own opinion. About the girls is to say that I was shocked when I saw that Tomomi is in that unit because she just has such a high voice and you need to get used to it but it helps the chorus to get this begging atmosphere. And wth, I didn’t recognize Ayaka Umeda! She really starts to become a favorite of mine. A few days or weeks ago I saw a stunning picture of hers so it got me interested in her and now I hear how good she sings and again how beautiful she is. Great girl <3

Another great unit song follows. Kimi wa Pegasus has my Oshimen (Sayaka <3) in it and Sae which is nice because they also were in K2 in the same unit. The song is not pop and not rock and pop rock doesn’t fit either. It has some syths I think but you see, I can’t describe this song to save my life. The important thing is that it is able to take your full attention. The only negative thing might be their voices at some point. Sayaka’s voice fits naturally (I’m wondering how she would do in a cutesy song~) and Nonti’s also but in this song Sae’s voice is inappropiately high and you see, she is a man here. Unlike Sae Natsuki does her best to make her voice fit in. But it’s still a great song. Maybe a shuffle version would get full score :3

Somehow I got the impression that Hone Hone Waltz isn’t too popular among AKB48 fans but I don’t care. I fell in love with it. For the simple reasons that it is a cute song but in an very unusual style. It has this kind of merry-go-round music in the chorus and the music in the verses is so minimal that Erepyon and Manami don’t have to sing over the music with their kiddie-voices. It defenitely is something different and a nice performance to show your friends at halloween!

As you can see in the picture is Kurukurupaa a funny song and it is performed by six members, just so you know. The music is nothing too special as you might already have guessed but at least it is fun to watch.

The first song after the unit songs is Christmas ga Ippai which is nothing surprising because K3 started in december. But it’s no slow winter ballad like Anata to Christmas Eve from A1 but a happy, poppy song. The dresses are just wonderfull and there are some parts in the song when they interact really friendly with each other.
When I read Theater Pirates i thought of something powerful because, you know, pirates are powerful but instead we get another popsong. In fact, it remembered me a bit of High School Musical. Don’t know where I got this image from but it was just there. Well, miocre song.

After Yuko’s solo song we get another ballad with Kataomoi no Sotsugyou Shiki and it is really beautiful. They get on stage person after person because they had to change first but it really fits the mood of the song. I’m not a ballad fan but here in the verses it seems like almost every line is a solo line and when they start to sing together in the chorus it’s a wonderful effect.

Hana to Chire! is very powerful song and something I waited for the whole stage even though we got those songs in the units I wanted to see it from the whole Team. The chorus is a bit weird but that’s nothing compared to the bridge which totally stands out. They tried a lot in this song and I think it works for them!
Like in A3 there is also in K3 a medley. Specifically the Team K 2nd Stage Medley. It consists of Virgin Love, Cinderella wa Damasarenai and Korogaru Ishi ni Nare and I think those songs a very well chosen. But unlike the A3 medley here they changed nothing about the songs what I thought to be kind of sad. I would have loved to here a new mix for Korogaru. You can see in the picture that they aren’t wearing dresses what makes the dance for Cinderella again a bit redundant but that’s something one has to live with. I really like this medley, don’t get me wrong, but they could have made more with it.
The “last” song is Sougen no Kiseki it’s a very casual song. It sound like nothing too special and there isn’t something like a real choreography. I mean some parts for sure have a specific dance but a big part hasn’t. They just hug each other and smile and some are even weeping. It’s a song that let’s you go home with a smile on your face.

Although Sougen no Kiseki is the last song there is a special bonus on the Stage DVD. Arigatou is the song that Yu Imai performed on her graduation day, I guess. It’s a beautiful ballad and even though it’s not perfect sung it’s understandable because she just performed in a Stage and of course her feelings must be heels over head too. So, it’s a very nice bonus :3

I didn’t calculate Arigatou in my rating ’cause I’m asuming that it was performed only once but with almost only great unit songs, a cool title song and a bit of every genre it’s a very good stage. It gets 7,9/10 points from me. That means it’s the second best stage until now.

Lascivious Oni-chan!

I think Chihiro will always be a part of this blog and I’m happy about it because it means that she always makes something blogworthy.

This is the same woman whose last four releases were deep, meaningful songs with a dark atmosphere and everything a Chihiro-Fan wants to hear from her. And now we get this so totally different song and I love it!

I also like her ballads and of course X which might be my favorite song by her but this song with the matching PV is just so surprising and different and fun that I can’t say anything different than that I’m totally excited for the coming album!

I hope there are a lot of different styles and if it turns out like Steal This Heart I really don’t mind if she doesn’t use her voice like we are used to hear from her. I already know that there will be two songs on the album that I don’t really like so this was kind of necessary. Now, after I looked at the tracklist, I realized that there are only four unknown songs left. But I trust her. This will be a better album than LAS VEGAS.
I let you know as soon as possible.

But back to the song. It’s just a fun one and it’s really easy to remember. Steal this heart~ Again and again~ *sing*. There’s a weird filter over her voice but that’s just for the retro sound I think. But even though the song is good, the PV is also a big factor. With the band in the style of those bands that I don’t really know because I’m born in the very early 90’s (okay, I hope they didn’t look that weird) it’s just great to watch because you can see how they all don’t really take it seriously. The best scenes are Chihiro making out with everyone of the band members. LoL. That’s so not her. And because of that it’s totally her imho. Loved it. She makes you look like this O_O without having a three-some with two other girls *cough*Kumi*cough*.

I’m thinking about buying the PV collection.

Damn you Chihiro for not releasing a CD+DVD album like everyone else!

<Surprise!>

The Black Goldfish

Okay, I admit it. It’s nothing too special that I fall in love with a song and listen to it over and over again. The last songs I really liked that way were MiChi’s YOU and Arashi’s truth (hey, I watched Maou~) and I listened to them around 30 times in one week. But now I found that song that just hit the 50-listens mark and I heard it the first time the day before yesterday. So, I think it’s blogworthy.

So, this is the first time I heard about Tae Hwa and Battle, the boygroup he was in before going solo.
Those two names were all I knew when I downloaded the single and listened to it just to don’t miss anything good in that big wave of korean releases. Good thing I did so! I know for many this song won’t be anything special but I could just listen to it for another fifty times. The melody is great, his voice is good and I got used to the rapping of JED, even though his english lines aren’t that great. I even searched for the lyrics + translations! The last time  I did that was MiChi’s YOU and that only because I wanted to sing it. So, the lyrics aren’t that special but that doesn’t bother me at all because I wouldn’t listen to asian music that I don’t understand if the lyrics would matter to me that much.

Besides that I really love that song, the MV is also really good and I think that’s not just me. (Like I said, I could understand if no one else than me loves the song xD) Sure, the blond/white hair is the new trend and I already read some comparisons to GDragon but you could do that with a lot of singers so I don’t think that is a big deal. But what I think is great is the fact that you can really see the meaning behind the song in the MV. Oh, how different that is for an Ayumi Hamasaki fan! So many PVs that never seemed to have any connection to the song lyrics~ So it’s great to see the Angel from the song title “Fallen Angel” in the video and on the other hand the fallen angel or deamon. And both sides are freakin’ hot! I was always the girl that fell for the extrem “colors”. (I was never a Gackt fan but I knew I liked him the most with that platinum blond hair or with black. But no other haircolor.) I just quick mention what I didn’t like about the MV. It were little things. The lenses weren’t my taste and so was that move in the beginning when the other guy lifted him up (Ayu’s GREEN anyone?). Then in the black part the long shot with the fabrics. It was great in the close ups but looked kind of meh when seen like this. And that’s about it. Three little things! I hope I can find it in a better resolution.

That was all about Fallen Angel I wanted to say. There’s also this song With U… but it’s a not-special-at-all ballad which is kind of sad but I guess if you want to be successful you have to try to appeal to everyone. I really hope for the full album to show up soon and until that happens I listen to the Battle discography. Tae Hwa was the main vocalist :3

Oh and what’s that with his surname? When he was in the band it was always Jin and now it says Zin on the cover. I don’t get it… But that doesn’t keep me from scrobbeling him on last.fm under the Artist-Tag “Tae Hwa” xD

So, you better check him out!

Stage by Stage ~A3~

And the next one! Wow, seems like Team B is far, far away from being reviewed by me in the next time. Oh, I also want to say that I will include the Himawari-Gumi stages here. Need to watch everything AKB48 related (and write about it)! xD

So, third time’s a charm they say?
Let’s see what kind of charm Team A’s Dareka no Tame ni has for us!

The Stage begins with Tsukimisou which sounds kind of traditional but with the fighting theme in it. It has something special but it wasn’t the beginning that let me thought “Wow, this is gonna be it!” so, yeah, you could like it but even then you have to sit through all those screams and stuff. At the end I was just like “Finally it’s over”. So I have a good opinion about the beginning of the song but then it changes. You may just have to figure it out yourself but I didn’t like it so much in the end.
Warning didn’t really do anything to convince me that this could be a good stage. The verses somehow didn’t really have a melody which was just bad and how the girls always sang the end of every line. No thanks. The chorus was nice but that’s about it.
Wani-wani-waniii~
Finally a song which gave reason to give this Stage a chance and watch through it. Tanjoubi no Yoru is really better than the two songs before it and that’s really nice even though it’s not really difficult to be better. The chorus is nice, especially the repetitions of Happy and stuff. Makes it stuck in your head. (Man, I’m writing a lot. I should mention that I drink beer while writing this. but that doesn’t effect my opinions on the songs. I wrote them down yesterday~)
What’s up with the socks?

So, it seems like with the unit songs everything gets better. If you start getting into AKB48 at least one person will recommend Bird to you. And that with good reason. Takamina leads this unit and her voice deserves it. It’s always a pleasure listening to it. (Fangirl! I think she’s the only reason that I kind of like Team A.) The song itself is of course also very good and I realized how much it sucks that I first heard about AKB48 so late because MaiMai has some good qualities on stage (that I will only see on DVD..). Sadly her voice is at one point akwardly high which made me give the song less points but it still rocks. Also visually. The outfits are great and the dance is… special. You have to get used to it but it suits the song really well.

Nage Kiss de Uchi Otose! is a very nice pop song that I kind of liked. It wasn’t something special (except for those brilliant hats) but it at least doesn’t disappoint you like the first two songs. For everything I wrote above I now write… not as much. There’s somehow not much you can say about this song. But that doesn’t make it bad.

Now we come to the song that felt like Kinjirareta Futari part 2. Shinkirou has the same problem with the boring verses and the really addictive chorus that you hum along. And there are two girls in white dresses on stage. Another girl that I started to really like because of this stage and already graduated from AKB48 is part of this duet. Nakanishi Rina <3 Well, I will watch out for her when I’m watching old concerts and stuff. Back to the song: It’s KF part 2 but not as sexy. That still makes it good for a ballad.

I read that there’s a sad story behind Rider about a fan who died but despite that, the song isn’t sad at all. It’s pop and happy and kind of “let’s remember the good times” I think. I don’t have the lyrics word for word in my head right now but that’s what it sounds like. It has that touch of a mediocre pop song but it’s still really nice to watch. Especially the outfits are nice~

Yes, another graduated member I started to really like during the stage. Well, it’s Hana Tojima and she was the first girl from AKB48 that caught my attention (while I was looking through the pics of the weekly calender) so I was really glad to see that she also is great on stage.

You can never do wrong with a single. Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru is of course one of my favorites and it is really important for AKB48 because it’s one of the songs with the not so idol-like themes in it. And it is really great. No boring part at all. The only thing that could annoy you after a time are all those “Ah~!s”. But that’s just something little and the sexy choreography makes totally up for it.
And after the unit songs ended there must be a song that is totally empty and just kind of boring. Natsu ga Icchatta is this song and well, you have to live with it. At least they still wear those kind of slutty uniforms.

The first thing I realized after Koike started playing was that Mariko Shinoda not really got a speaking voice I would like hearing while watching a whole DVD. But for one song it’s okay, I guess. The song itself is a nice change because it got a bit of a samba sound and the smirks the girls give eacht other while trying their best to shake their ‘breasts’ are just too funny. The whole dance is funny because of those weird arm movements so all in all it’s very entertaining!
Tsuki no Katachi was a very bright light after being disappointed a few times. I first read a few lines of the lyrics and expected a ballad but we get this really melodious song that I never really payed attention to while only listening the stage. I really recommend that song!

What I really liked about Dareka no Tame ni ~What Can I Do For Someone?~, the title song, were those really beautiful white dresses. And of course the song itself. It’s not really something that special but all the girls sing it with so much feeling that you just start to like it. And those gestics they do while they interact with each other are just cute <3

In a bit less than 10 minutes we see the Medley which consists of Aitakatta, Dear my teacher, Sakura no Hanabiratachi, Skirt、Hirari and AKB48. It’s really fun because most songs are now rockier and faster which is kind of weird during Sakura no Hanabiratachi. Those hand moves so fast? Well, it’s a good laugh~ I think it’s cool that they did it like this and tried something new than just put the songs like they are in a medley. Thumbs up!

Seems like they waited with one of the best songs till the end. Namida Uri no Shoujo is a great song with gorgeous dresses and again they tried something new. This time in form of something rap-like. It’s weird but interesting. After some “bad” songs this makes you think better about the stage with it as last song.

This stage showed me some girls that are truly great and would be even greater if they still were in AKB48. Besides that it showed me that even AKB48 can have some really boring and less than mediocre songs and without the singles here like Seifuku and of course the medley the rating might have been worse. I hope no other stage will get a rating this low again: 7,3/10

It’s YOU, finally

I know I’m late because her album is already out (and soon the limited edition is on its way to me) but for now I will just write about this special single before her major debut album.

The Cover (and of what it consists)

It looks like crap, I know. But let me assure you, there are places in the cd case where you can put the card and it doesn’t look as bad as here. Those are for example those where her eyes aren’t covered by gigantic letters. Still, the card could have looked better. Everything in MiChi’s face is a bit big. Her lips, her nose, her eyes and I really like that. It just doesn’t look so good from that front angle. So, her name and the title are on a see-trough lay-in and you can just take the card out if you like it like that. I will keep it in there, so it’s save. There’s an autograph on it, so I’ll make sure not to lose it. (Under the CD in the case there’s a picture of MiChi signing all those cards. I wanted to scan it but I’m afraid I might break the case so I didn’t.)

Did she write the same sentence on every card?

The Songs

YOU is very relaxed and slow and just the type of ballad that suits MiChi really well. I didn’t have a clue how a ballad from her would be since I hoped for every single to be a bit more like her indies album but now we got the total opposite and she just excels in it. It’s not like her voice is made for ballads but this song would have sounded weird from someone that you are used to just work with their voice. But with MiChi we get feelings and even if you just understand some bits of japanese and listen to the english lines you get the feeling that she’s talking to someone. The chorus stucks in your head and even the verses aren’t boring at all and that means something when I say it. (I think.)

With YOY we go back to the bit dance-like songs and it’s kind of different from the other songs because it seems minimalistic in some parts and if you listen closely even her voice is distorted sometimes. The bad thing is that I always wait for the chorus to start again because I can’t really get myself to like the verses that much. But the bridge is nice with the Whys and Downs. Still, you miss her special something after listening to YOU. Maybe the least good b-side by her.

YOU (version 3.1) is of course a remix of YOU and after I’ve listened to it for the first time (on the bus) I thought that I heard her voice maybe twice. Well, when you start the song you expect it to be some kind of traditional asian version but that intro soon stops and you just get the instrumentals a bit electrified and in some parts (after a long time) there are the vocals thrown in. The best starts after the half song is already over. The remixer finally used the chorus and it saves the this version a bit but the intro is just too long and boring. All in all I think YOU isn’t really the song you should remix, but what do I know~

I’m so happy while writing this because there’s YOU (instrumental) on this CD. That means for me: Search the lyrics and sing, sing, sing! There never was an instrumental to any song on her previous singles so I’m very happy. And besides the fact that I can now try my best while recording my voice (I’m not sure if you will ever get to hear this) it even is a very good instrumental. Just beautiful. I like it very much and there isn’t the background singing that are on some so-called “instrumentals”.

The PV

Oh, the PV is so loveley. It’s made like it would be filmed by her (b0y?)friend and it’s really fun and suits the song perfectly. Even when she opens that bottle of champagne it still works with the slow song. They did it very good. And I like how she only sings in the chorus because those activities seen in the PV would look weird while singing. Except maybe for that popcorn throwing xD I can’t even decide what pictures to include in this post. Oh, and she looks sooo nice. There are always some shadow issues with her nose but those are almost completely gone. So, just go and watch it!

After all was the single really worth the buy. The song is beautiful, there is an instrumental and there is an autograph. The b-side and the remix weren’t that exciting but I wouldn’t say they are bad and some people might like them. Not her best single but a nice one to end the era.