I’m sorry, there’s something hot about trailer parks. You probably didn’t know that I grew up in a town that was close to trash with lots and lots of trailers and motels. I’m not saying that trailer park people are trash. Salt of the earth, really.

Uemu is growing up nicely, right? I wonder why she decided to pick up a trumpet for this photoshoot?







And, now it’s time for some off shot.

Oh, it’s double feature PV review time here at TheNumber 244. I have been concerned about Juice=Juice since their last release “Senobi / Date ja Nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa”. The future of Hello! Project looked like they could do no wrong for a good year-plus stretch. And, while most expected the group to land back on earth eventually, I don’t think anyone expected as rough a landing as their last single. With “Senobi / Date ja nai yo Uchi no Jinsei wa” touching down with under 30,000 units and out of the top three slots, red flags and May Day calls went out to the appropriate services.

“Wonderful World”

Back when I started really paying attention to idols, I rationalized my shift thusly- “I spent most of my life listening to music that speaks to the painful nature of existence. Isn’t it time for some joy in my life?” Well, “Wonderful World” speaks to that sentiment. Like the name suggests, the song provides an uplifting sentiment meant to brighten a cloudy day. Lyrics like “If you are here, when I think about you, then that alone makes this a wonderful world” give the impression “Wonderful World” is a pick-me-up for people feeling low or who want/need good things said about them. And really, who doesn’t need that in their life?

Hey, look. I don’t care- I have a long standing Karinfection.

Like most things in the “new” Hello! Project, “Wonderful World” lists no credits to Tsunku. In his place, we get lyrics and composition by Iijima Ken and an arrangement by gaokalab. I don’t really know anything about these people, but Iijima Ken matches credits to the first Scandal album “Best Scandal” from 2009. That’s his work you hear in the Bleach opening song “Shoujo S“. The composition features some nice chromatic runs in the verse’s B melody executed by Miyamoto Karin and Takagi Sayuki. These same two girls also vocalize the chorus melody near the end of the song while Miyazaki Yuka, Kanazawa Tomoko, and Uemura Akari provide complementary lyrics. As fitting for the song, the arrangement is lush with strings and pianos punctuated with flourishes on the harp. Background “whoo” and “aah” fill the soundscape like H!P hired the Disney singers to round out the arrangement. In fact, if I had video editing skills, you would see me dubbing the song over video from Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World” ride. It’s that kind of song.

Sing it, Sayubee

The PV fits in with most of Hello! Project’s works. A bright room with high ceilings with an ornate wooden staircase serves as the backdrop for “Wonderful World”. Radiant stain glass windows and doors glow behind the girls’ choreography while lens flares keyed to appropriate prismatic colors fill the air and space. We can’t escape the milky color effects in the PV, but with all the light pouring into the set, I think it doesn’t look out of place.

Here’s that grand staircase behind Karin.

Uemu with a detail of the stain glass window

One nice thing about all this light is the halos we get. Here’s KanaTomo’s halo

Aarii’s halo

Yukanyan bathed in light

Sayubee’s halo

And Karin with a ridiculous amount of light

Oh, damn; they’re in front of a fluffy cloud blue sky now?

This is the shot I’m going to remember most from this PV. It has a high “interestingness” level

Don’t get ahead of yourselves, girls!

And, scene

————————————————–

“Ça Va? Ça Va?”

Playing like the evening time to “Wonderful World’s” bright daylight, “Ça Va? Ça Va?” fills a twilight illuminated room with lanterns, lamps, and candles. The meticulously dressed set comprises desks, love seats, chairs, and an inescapable replica Eiffel Tower. I can’t actually tell if we are looking at a different room in the same house, or the same soundstage decorated to look like a subtly different locale.

Dance shots. You’ll have to imagine an Eiffel Tower somewhere there.

Certainly seems like an exterior

The most striking visual effect in “Ça Va? Ça Va?” is the reality busting solo spotlight that shines on Akari first and then Sayubee next during the string accompanied transitions out of the choruses. It’s a blatant manipulation of lighting that supports the “sound stage” set theory.

Juice=Juice have a bit of a tradition releasing and performing genre songs from around the globe. “Ça Va? Ça Va?” continues the tradition with sounds and arrangements meant to evoke Parisian college memories. Aah, do you remember Françoise from that summer during Junior year? Françoise would be happy to hear the layered accordion and concertinas providing the backdrop to the verses. Timpani drums jauntily thump along with the percussion as snare drums play eights, then sixteenths, and finally sixteenth sextuplets to indicate the rising tension that finally resolves with the Akari and Sayubee spotlights I mentioned earlier. Perhaps the most interesting choice is the inclusion of a surf guitar in the intro sections of the song while the girls sing “Dabada” and unseen sound clip man croons “Bonjour!”. I’m not exactly sure how it all fits together, but at least “Ça Va? Ça Va?” provides plenty of interesting sounds to examine.

Let’s interrupt this programme with an Akari leg kick

Lyrically, “Ça Va? Ça Va?” fills itself with the self-doubt lacking in “Wonderful World”. Chorus lyrics contain lines like “Where did I go? I used to smile with my tanned face, now I want to know what love is while I’m dreaming.” Firstly, you got all tanned because of the bright sunlight in the previous PV (244: I’m always self-conscious of getting too tan, blame my genetics). Secondly, while the protagonist in “Wonderful World” wanted to joyously frolic in the bright daylight, this protagonist wants to sleep and dream. I guess this introspection is a French thing? Or maybe it’s a hormonal adolescent thing. I dunno. I had breakfast this morning in my sun filled patio and it was brilliant- not that my breakfast has anything to do with either of these songs.

Here’s the French

And, that French certainty

Look at all the angst!

Sayubee dining al fresco, too! My breakfast was relevant after all!

Dabada? What?

And, scene.

You can buy “Wonderful World / Ça Va? Ça Va?” at CD Japan

The new faces of Hello! Project feature in a new set of magazine photos from Weekly Playboy Magazine. Here’s a printed indication about the way the wind blows. So, PAY ATTENTION! These are the girls you are going to see again and again. Learn their names!
In Morning Musume, we have Kudo Haruka, Sayashi Riho, and Makino Maria.

Juice=Juice sends the #Karinfection herself with Miyamoro Karin pairing nicely with Uemura Akari

The new Kobushi Factory sends the colonol! That’s right, Hamaura Ayano.

Country Girls send in Shimamura Uta, the last viral infection from H!P. But, really they could have sent any of those cuties, right?

Finally, and I can’t believe she would be last in anything, Angerme’s Sasaki Rikako brings the pain.

Some extras:
Duu, RihoRiho, and Maria

UTACHAN KAWAII (did you know she was 1/8 Italian?!)

Just a quick warning, I’m pretty sure some of the tweets at the end of this are not from either of the two shows listed. Too bad.
Hello! Station 113

The Girls Live 65

Earlier this month, Juice=Juice’s Uemura Akari and Morning Musume 15’s Ogata Haruna got together for a pictorial guide to happiness. If this feature provides any indication, Aarii and Haachin lead the group of new young faces of Hello! Project. We had an idea that Aarii would receive the push for her looks, but Haachin has not been seen without her generation mates in a magazine feature until now. Haachin seems to possess the kind of facial control that allows her to set the mood for a variety of photographs. What’s more, Haruna provides the classic looks that will keep her relevant for years. Let’s hope I’m right!

Girls at play. (Advantage: draw)

Looking back beauties. (Advantage: Haachin)

Sharing is caring. (Advantage: Aarii)

They kinda look like we caught them in the middle of something, don’t they? (Advantage: Haachin)

back to back (advantage: Aarii- she sits a little taller)

Off shot. The obscured frozen treat makes an appearance (advantage: ice cream)

So, who do you think won the battle of BOMB?

You can buy BOMB (July 2015) from CD Japan

What happens when an idol promotional video strips bare? Will the lack of props, costumes, and setting unsettle you? Or, will it focus your gaze?

The recently released “Tsuzuiteiku STORY (Everlasting Story)” promotional PV does just that: five girls and nothing more. The ballad drips with emotion and signals farewell, thank you, and anxious expectation in one action.

The song “Tsuzuiteiku STORY” outdoes itself in terms of gorgeousness. Acoustic instruments fill the arrangement with a classic ballad sound. The song focuses on the vocals very quickly, and the strings frame the melodies lyrically without getting in the way. Verse melodies perfectly encapsulates the gentle introspective lyrics. The girls run through scenarios where their sense of “self” rub against “others” as they contemplate leaving things behind. By the time Juice=Juice hits you with the chorus lyric “Why am I crying?”, I am tearing up (or outright sobbing)- maybe the songs strikes a familiar chord with my personal life filled with so many departures. As far as the business of idols go, “Tsuzuiteiku STORY” lends the listener the strength to move on to their next phase as the girls seemingly do the same.

Two ways of approaching “Tsuzuiteiku STORY” immediately spring to mind. Given their habit of tightly controlling promotional video budgets, I can (perhaps) fairly say that the PV frugally imagines the otherwise lovely song. Hello! Project didn’t need to spend anything on sets or outfits. Given how much we see the girls providing their own makeup and hair, a stylist probably never graced the set, either (yeah, I doubt that last one, too). The result is Juice=Juice’s disembodied heads singing like Max Headroom sans the 80s day-glo background. So, as the girls play nude against the void, you could cynically say, “H!P, you bastards!”

This is set design

While I don’t deny the PV pinches pennies, the simplicity works for me. To begin with, “Tsuzuiteiku STORY” does not work in service of a single. The song showcases the group in advance of their “First Squeeze” album. In essence, the video purely promotes a song with very little commercial agenda (albums do not sell in Japan). Frankly, they didn’t need to create this video. Somewhat liberated from the Oricon charts, the need for “wow” and “sparkle” fades into an emotional conveyance of the lyrics and composition.

Let’s have the girls out:
Miyazaki Yuka

Kanazawa Tomoko

Takagi Sayuki

Miyamoto Karin

Uemura Akari

So, how do you deliver the emotional impact of the “Tsuzuiteiku STORY”? Well, you could just have the girls deliver the song purely, with their souls bared naked. And, nakedness they do with bare shoulders suggesting a body-and-soul return to their natural states. In a way, Juice=Juice created a video that is the closer to a direct heart-to-heart communication than any other idol PV I’ve ever seen. The girls hold eye contact through the LCD screen better than any FaceTime call I’ve ever made. Yuka’s compassionate looks, Tomoko’s sly smiles, Sayuki’s heartfelt delivery, Karin’s pure expressions, and Akari’s playful grins are about as close to a handshake as you can get across the sea. They stretch out to hold hands and sing you gently while your heart flutters indescribably. Whoever you are, Juice=Juice sings directly to you.

The song, the lyrics, and the delivery all work well to convey the emotional impact. Given the nature of the business, I have no doubt “Tsuzuiteiku STORY” will be trotted out for years to come. When one of the girls finally makes her leap, you will hear this song. And, when the song is sung for the last time with all five girls, you won’t need to ask “Why am I crying?”.

And, scene.

You can buy “Tsuzuiteiku STORY” on Juice=Juice’s “First Squeeze” album

Pushing things to the max, Juice=Juice release a second promotional video for their “First Squeeze” album barely days after “Tsuzuiteiku STORY“. With “CHOICE & CHANCE”, Miyazaki Yuka, Kanazawa Tomoko, Takagi Sayuki, Miyamoto Karin, and Uemura Akari flex their muscles with an aggressive number that maximizes their vocal power. And, like “Tsuzuiteiku STORY”, “CHOICE & CHANCE” seems like a PV that didn’t needed to be made, but I am sure glad it’s around.

The uniformity of it all

The song begins with a grooving guitar lick accented with fist pumping hits. This guitar groove centers the song, and it is echoed in the melodies and keyboard accent that saw through the instrumental tracks. While the song isn’t as funky as the some of latest offerings by ANGERME, the groove is just as persistent. The chorus tweaks the things slightly and adds some tonal progression as the key changes and the melody gains complexity. Well, the more things change the more they stay the same over the deep shaking bass track.

Karin Punch!

“CHOICE & CHANCE” offers two variations on the same set. Dance shots take the well-used soundstage and paints the walls with contrasting red and white. This palette informs Juice=Juice’s outfits- also in red and white with uniform black contrasts.

Uniform might be the operative word here. The set and all the elements therein- exposed tripod lighting, boxed parcans shooting upward, and an overhead ring scream regularity. 90 degree lines and symmetry rule the set. The only things that break this dogged uniformity is the diagonal sash mini-dresses worn by the Juicers. If we look at dance as a struggle or a conflict, then we see Juice=Juice breaking out of the regularity and expectations of their lives.

Like a mirror

Ready for battle

The break with conformity comes through in the other notable scenes for “CHOICE & CHANCE”. Like Country Girls’s “Wakatteiru no ni Gomen ne” (which I looked at last week), Juice=Juice offers a modest scene of the Juicers playing Shogi against an unknown opponent. Here again, we have the same images of conformity and regularity. The symmetry we saw in the previous set makes its way to the darkened room. Taunting us with the most symmetric of all shapes, the circular light rig mirrors the circular table beneath it. The five girls sit around the table in a pentagon which is again echoed in the shape of the Shogi pieces. Emotionless and almost catatonic, the Juicers immerse themselves in the globe and the maps that litter the table. They’re looking for a way. Not coincidentally, the way is found in a class game that is a metaphor for warfare: Shogi.

Unmistakable conformity

KanaTomo needs to break out

You don’t need to know much about Shogi (it’s a variant of chess) to figure out the situation. Again, the square lines of the game board and the uniformity of the piece movement conflict with a desire for the unconventional. Having lost all of the other pieces the girls find themselves backed into a corner with only their King piece. Akari, the youngest, suggests a lateral move that would prolong the game, but nothing more. Sorry, Aarii. Your move is rejected.

Play the game

The conundrum

What are you doing?!

Rejected

A quick adorable break

In a move that proves emblematic, center girl Karin flips the King over to reveal a handsomely scripted letter “J”. With this Juice=Juice piece, H!P Jesus and the rest of the girls skewer their invisible opponent (parents? authority? conformity?) with a swift movement across the board. Decisiveness, teamwork, and creativity converge onto the pentagonal apex of the Shogi piece and lead to a categorical success. “Ganbatte”, Juice=Juice. Do your best.

Check

and, Mate!

A satisfactory conclusion

And, scene.

You can buy “CHOICE & CHANCE” on Juice=Juice’s “First Squeeze” album

don’t mind me, I’m just checking some technical things out.

more technical checks

more checks

maybe the last?

hopefully the last?

Before we start, you should know that this is actually Juice=Juice performing as their alter egos “NEXT YOU” from the drama “Budokan”. As such, surely some connection between the visuals of “Next is You” and the drama exists in the digital signature waiting to be unearthed. I would be bad person if I didn’t give an excavation my best efforts.

Tsunku masterminds the entire NEXT YOU project, and the music isn’t an exception. The electric piano lead-in builds initial intrigue visualized with floral arrangements composited over images of the NEXT YOU members. A quickly paced arrangement pops in and sings with synthy brass melodies that lead into on-beat accents. Instrumentally tight, handclaps and jangling guitars provide texture to a the short repeating melodic lines. The sound gives an air of determination and concentration.

Certainly, the lyric oozes the moxy of lines like the titular “Next is you!” and the feeling of frustration will turn into your power”. Even more striking is how the lyrics are a meditation on show business and the duality of character needed for success. It’s a well-known secret that entertainers and performers play a version of their personal character onstage and in media. This idea of being oneself without being oneself resonates at the heart of Next You and “Budokan”. I don’t want to give away plot points here, but “Budokan” examines closely the business of the idol and the distance between personal life and idol life.




Miyazaki Yuka answers

Takagi Sayuki belts this line out with feeling!

While Akari may be the center of NEXT YOU, Miyamoto Karin definitely plays the star of “Budokan”. For those of us Karin wota, this release provides a joyful reunion with Karinchansan’s hair.


Yes, I’ll spoil you Karin. I’ll spoil you with cute stationary.

The promotional video doesn’t offer much in terms of visual innovation. As standard, H!P treats us to a dance shot intercut with solo shots of the girls. Ho-hum, yes. The dance shot interests me because of the red drape over the backdrop. To me, the drape evokes the blood-stained plastics of a butcher shop. This elicit a reflection on how the entertainment business chops its stars into pieces to be sold. Here an autograph, there a diary. Here a picture, there a personal effect. The butchery of idols certainly meshes well with the conceit of “Budokan”.

Fading into the flowers

The solo shots of NEXT YOU builds the dichotomy further with shots of the girls in a pseudo bedroom on their pseudo beds. It’s intimate and private, but it’s also completely artificial.

While you can definitely look at “Next is You” as the latest asleep-at-the-wheel PV from Hello! Project, there might be some thought behind the visuals. My butcher analogy might be a bit extreme, but perhaps it’s right on target. What did you think of “Next is You”? What do you think of Budokan? Tell me in the comments below!

and, scene!

You can buy Juice=Juice’s “Next is You / Karada dake ga Otona ni Nattanjanai” at CD Japan
Limited A

Limited B

Limited C

<a href=""http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/HKCN-50477"Limited D

Regular A

Regular B

Hello everybody, TheNumber244 reprinting my article from New School Kaidan here with the intention of bringing you up to date with the new month of Hello! Project rankings. With only one proper release on the schedule for March, it’s pretty clear who is perched atop the rankings for the month. Still unseen on the rankings is Tsubaki Factory, who released an indie mini-album in March titled “Tsubaki Factory SOUND + VISION Vol.1” during the Satoyama/Satoumi/HinFes event mid month. Having not heard the release myself, I can’t tell you much about it other than it contains their previous singles, “Seishun Manmannaka!” and “Kedakaku Sakihokore!”, and covers of “17sai” by Moritaka Chisato and “Cabbage Hakusho ~Haru Hen~” by Peaberry.

Speaking of the HinaFes, the events of March centered around “Hello! Project Hina Fest 2016” on March 19 and 20 at Pacifico Yokohama. Coinciding with the Satoyama/Satoumi event at the same venue, HinaFes has become a sort of “Spring Road Show” for the Projects as the groups showcase their upcoming Spring singles. Solo and small group performances with participants decided completely by lottery add a specialness to the performances as the member combinations can be completely unpredictable yet surprisingly sensical. Spread among the four performance dates this year we got solo performances from Juice=Juice’s Takagi Sayuki, Morning Musume ’16’s Fukumura Mizuki, Kobushi Factory’s Ogawa Rena, and Angerme’s Wada Ayaka. The small group performances brought us “trugranful” with Miyamoto Karin, Tamura Meimi, and Nakanishi Kana; “AAAa” with Uemura Akari, Suzuki Airi, Haga Akane, and Hamaura Ayano; “Tsubomi Factory” with Taguchi Natsumi, Nomura Minami, Niinuma Kisora, Inoue Rei, and Kamikokuryo Moe; and “6 Pack” with Katsuta Rina, Ogata Haruna, Yajima Maimi, Kishimoto Yumeno, Ishida Ayumi, and Kudo Haruka.The success of the event warranted another HinaFes in 2017, so I’ll see you next March when I describe the next set of lottery-chosen performances.

And with HinaFes 2016 out of the way,
Rankings come on!
–Read More–

Don’t you love Juice=Juice? I know you do. I also know you’re an admirer of the melon girl Uemura Akari. Enjoy this set from HustlePress- you can see the original article and read the interview here.

Okay, this is actually a pretty old photoseet from the promotional cycle for “Black Butterfly / Kaze ni Fukarete”. I don’t care, because I do not have enough of these girls on my blog here. Enjoy1

The ninth Juice=Juice single just released its update on the Juice=Juice promotional materials.

Promotional photos

After looking at the “KEEP ON Joshou Shikou” photography for song, this set looks achingly normal. Not that it’s a bad thing. It just feels much different.

CD Jacket artwork was also released today. Take a look!

Limited A
Amazon.jp | CDJapan | YesAsia

Limited B
Amazon.jp | CDJapan | YesAsia

Regular A
Amazon.jp | CDJapan | YesAsia

Regular B
Amazon.jp | CDJapan | YesAsia

SP Edition
Amazon.jp | CDJapan | YesAsia

So, who are your winners? Which CD art do you like best?

Juice=Juice Official Links
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