AKB48 Bunshin no Jutsu Concert Tour – Team B Zepp Nagoya Concert

So this past week the latest AKB concert tour was released on DVD. I myself have never been able to justify buying one of these INCREDIBLY overpriced concert box-sets AKB releases on what seems like a regular basis now. Yeah sure, this set has the 3 separate Team concerts, plus the one huge Budokan concert, but $340 is a little much. Hell, I have the boxset for Stargate SG-1, which includes all 10 seasons (which encompasses well over 200 episodes) and from what I remember, that was only a little over $100. Then again, Japanese media being overpriced for what you get shouldn’t come as a surprise to me. I do buy music singles after all…

But anyway, I’m getting off topic. I figured that for my next big set of posts, I’d review the concerts myself (or at least my favorite shuffle groups in regards to the massive Budokan concert) First up will be the Team B concert (obviously…) at Zepp Nagoya.

First up, I will mention that SKE48 Team S performs in both Team B’s and Team K’s concerts (strange how they don’t perform in Team A’s…seems like more Team A favoritism there, they don’t have to share their concert). However, in Team K’s concert, 8 members from Team KII are also present. In both concerts, they perform the same 3 songs, so I will only be including my thoughts on these songs during this review of Team B’s concert, if only because I don’t care to review the same 3 songs twice. That would be kind of redundant.

Of course, Team B’s concert starts out with their iconic song, Shonichi. I think this is a given when doing a Team B show, its THEIR song. This song is just so full of energy and really puts a smile on your face while watching. While I myself am a bit of a metal head when it comes to music, I do like these kind of songs from time to time, especially when your not in a good mood. The message Shonichi’s lycircs put across is really good at giving you a happy feeling, and don’t we all need that from time to time? Anyway, this is a great way to start the show.

Joshikousei wa Yamerarenai is next, and I’ve always loved this song. Its damn catchy (though that might have something to do with how much it sounds like Morning Musume’s Love Machine, which is also damn catchy) and the performance is really cute. All the girls dancing around with those little stuffed teady bears is just adorable. This is defenitly one of the best songs from B4, so I’m glad they put it in this concert.

Minasanmo go Isshoni is defenitly an interesting song, and one of my favorite B4 songs. However, I’ve always felt that the opening instrumental goes on for a little too long, but that might just be me. If their’s one song that showcases just how high energy Team B is, its this one. This song is an example of someone taking a regular song and speeding it up about 5 times its normal speed.

‘ll be honest, prior to this concert, I hadn’t listened to Wasshoi B! all that much. It just wasn’t really my type of song. However, after seeing it in this concert, I have a great appreciation for it. This is another song that is undoubtedly Team B’s song (I’m sure they could remix it for the other Teams, but it just wouldn’t be the same). Its a cut song, there’s no doubt about that, but the fact that its a song about Team B just makes it a joy to listen to, especially to a hardcore B fan like myself.

We next start the unit song set of the concert, starting with kuchiutsushi no chocolate. This one’s a strong favourite of mine. It features Yukirin as the lead, so that’s one plus. Second, its just a great sounding song overall, plus, its likely one of AKB48’s naughtiest songs to date, though this makes me question the choice of Lovetan and Naachan in this song, considering their a little too young for a song like this. The thing I like about this song the most is how it showcases just how great and variable Yukirin’s vocals are. Normally, she has a very strong, clear singing voice, but here, she has higher, almost desperate sounding vocals. The fact that she can change her singing pitch to fit the songs mood and style is really a testament to just how damn good a singer she is.

My other favorite B4 song, Itoshiki Natasha, is next. This song, and the trio who perform it, are just the embodiment of awesome. Haachans vocals are beyond amazing as usual, and she really makes this song for me. I also love just how powerful this song is. The dance routine with the stand mikes is just so Rock/Metal, and this performance actually seemed to have more power behind it than when I saw it on the LOD performance. It sucks though that they performed a shortened version of this song during the concert (as they did with quite a few songs actually) but still, defenitly one of the top songs of the concert.

Tenshi no Shippo is next. What can I say about this song. Its an overload of cute. I have always liked this song. The vocals are quite good despite the girls not being the best singers in Team B(well, except for Tomomi Nakatsuka, who has a surprisingly strong controlled voice). However, this is such a peppy tune I can’t help but love it to death.

Kataomoi no taikakusen is a strong favorite of mine from B4, however, this particular performance is a bit conflicting for me. Rumi and Moeno are fantastic as they always are in this song. Both look damn good doing it as well. In this performance, Komori Mika is the third girl, and I’m not sure about her yet. She seems like a decent enough singer, however, her stage presence really needs some work. She shows almost no emotion at all for a good portion of this concert, and her movements are VERY stiff. She almost seems like she doesn’t care…sort of like a certain Team A frontgirl….But anyway, I really hope she improves by the time the new Stages start, as I believe she’s part of the new Team B. Her participation in this unit kinda brought it down a bit for me, but it was still a great performance. I especially liked how much they focused on the back dancers, especially Yukirin in red. Hell, I think she might have had more screen time than the leads during this performance.

pajama drive is a song I’ve always liked, though I think it could benefit from stronger vocals. It features who are in reality the worst singers of Team B (Harugon, Naachan and Mayu) however, I guess in the context of the song they fit perfectly in it. Not much to say about this performance other than that It’s pretty good.

Junjou Shugi is without a doubt my favorite song from B3. It’s an awesome sounding song, and Haachan is in the lead. Thats a win win right there. Moeno and Nakayan are in this particular performance, and while Moeno does a fantastic job, as usual, I still don’t think Nakayan fits in this much. She is a great performer, but her vocals just don’t fit with Haachan’s or Moeno’s. Yukirin would have been a perfect fit here in my opinion. Nonetheless, its still a fantastic performance, but again, its shortened, so that makes me sad.

Kagami no naka no jean d’arc is such an awesome song, excluding it from this concert would have been heresy in the eyes of any Team B fan. This is one of the few (if not the only) Unit songs in this concert to feature Kohara in it, and I really enjoyed seeing her in this concert. She just seems to enjoy everything she does. Too bad she’s now part of SDN48, and not even one of the main team members either. She was great in this song, and so was everyone else in it as well. I love just how rock this song is.

We know move on to SKE48’s little portion of the concert. Now, I am a recent SKE48 convert, so I enjoyed their little part of the show. The first song they perform is the title track of their 2nd Stage, Te wo Tsunaginagara. I remember reading a review on this stage over at CK’s AKB48 blog, and he mentioned how this song was “so K4″, however, I just don’t see that. Its a great song, don’t get me wrong, however, I don’t think it has a Team K feel to it. Still, a great song, and I really enjoyed the performance here. Next, they perform SKE48, which is really just a remixed version of AKB48. I actually like SKE’s version better, to be honest. IT just seems to flow better for some reason. I would have preferred them to perform another stage song from S2, maybe even a unit song, but this is ok I guess. To finish off their little set, Team S performs their debut single song, Tsuyokimono yo. Now, if any SKE song has a Team K feel to it, its this one. This is one damn awesome debut song. This performance is great as well, and really shows off how powerful this song is. Overall, SKE’s performances are great, and they are really taking off as a great Idol group. I’m also really warming up to the fact that Jurina Matsui as one of the front girls of this group. For someone so young, she has great potential, and in all honesty, she a fantastic performer even know. The thing that gets me is just how happy she seems when she is on stage. That goes a long way for me. The only thing I have to complain about here is the lack of Yui Matsushita. I don’t remember seeing her once. I wish they would have shown her a little more (seeing as she’s my fav SKE member) Ah well…

Team B returns to the stage now with Two years later from B3. Another strong performance here. Nothing too special to say here. Great performance overall. Same with the next few songs, yokosuka curve, kobushi no seigi (which is always a fav of mine, I love the outfits, so badass), suifu wa arashi ni yume wo miru and arigatou. All these songs are great, but I really don’t want to go over most of them again, considering I talked about most of them in my B4 review, and the performances here are just as good.

The First of the encore songs is my favourite from B4, B Stars. Now, most people always complain that this song says B way too many times, but I don’t care. I love it. Its so high energy and just damn fun to listen too. It really gets you going. The performance here is awesome. Did I mention I love this song? Can’t say that enough…

The last 3 songs are the last 3 singles at the time, Namida Surprise!, Oogoe Diamond and Iiwake Maybe. I still don’t like Namida, so I won’t even bother talking about it. I always love hearing Oogoe. Its one AKB song that never gets old for me. Team B puts on a great performance of it here. Team B’s rendition of it is very unique in how its sounds compared to when the other teams perform it, likely due to the range of vocal ability Team B has. The Iiwake performance is also great, though I wonder if its a good way to end the concert. I kinda like it when they do ballads to end off a stage/concert. Their the perfect ending songs. But oh well, Iiwake kicks ass, so I guess its pretty good to use as an ending song.

And so ends Team B’s Nagoya concert. All in all, it was fantastic. Team B is always a joy to watch perform, and this concert is no exception.

One thing that really hit home with me while I was watching this was the fact that I’m really going to miss the current Team B. It hit me that this was likely one of the last times in concert that they were going to perform together as Team B. While the new Team B has definite promise, it will NEVER reach the level the current lineup did. So to that, I say goodbye to the current Team B lineup. You guys kicked ass on so many levels, and no one could compare to you.

Original Team B, you will be missed, dearly.

AKB48’s Latest single – RIVER

First of all, I wanted to share this with everybody. I finally downed a particular rare enemy in World of Warcraft the other day, the ever elusive Time Lost Proto Drake!:

This is likely one of the rarest of WOW’s rare spawns, and its especially coveted because it always drops…well, itself, as a flyable mount, making it one of the rarest mounts in the game at the moment. Its especially tricky to get because there are normally a dozen or so people just camping its flight paths hunting it. How did I come across it you ask? Purely by accident to be honest. I was doing the daily quest in Brunnhildar Village to see if that was the day I would finally get the Polar Bear mount (it wasn’t…again. I’m beginning to think it doesn’t even exist. I’ve likely done the quest almost 100 times now). That days daily was to go back and fight in the pit. Now, I was just starting to attack my first opponent, and what do I see? My NPC scan addon alerting me to the Drakes presence, that’s what. And where was it? Right directly above me. Awesome! I quickly got off my war bear, summon my flying mount and flew towards my prey. I took it down within a few seconds, and the mount was mine at last! That defenitly made my day!

Anyway, today I’m going to do a bit of raving over the latest AKB single, RIVER. I don’t know what else I can say about this single other than that it is BEYOND EPIC! This single is a radical departure from practically everything AKB48 has done to date, and in my opinion, its the best song they’ve released. Its edgy, up tempo and just so damn addictive. I also like how its edgy, yet its not dark or depressing, its just badass.

Now, I haven’t seen the PV yet (decided to wait for my copy of the single to arrive so I can watch the PV from the included DVD) but from what I have heard about it (and seen in screen shots) its pretty kick ass. It features the girls as soldiers, which alone sounds awesome. I have a feeling it will be my favorite AKB48 PV to date.

The accompanying tracks are also pretty good. The B-side, Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara is awesome. Again, this song really stands out among other AKB tunes, and of course it features the awesome Undergirls group (again, I HATE that name) so its of the same caliber as the A-side. Its a little more cutesy than RIVER, but it still manages to be an addicitve song, and is just as good as RIVER.

Now, the single does include a third song, Hikoki Gumo. Now, I will say this about the song; meh. I don’t care for it. Its generic, boring, and does not stand well against the likes of RIVER and Kimi no Koto. Its also old, in a sense. Its a song from A5, so its nothing even remotely new, and that’s my problem with it. ITS NOTHING NEW. This seems to be a new trend in AKB singles; include a song from the stages. Now, while this is not bad in anyway, I do like singles to give us something new. I also just don’t like Hikoki Gumo, so I am a little peeved at this choice. Everyone else in the fandom seems to like it though…don’t know why. So yeah, I just give this song a meh.

I’m hoping we can get more singles of this caliber in the future. RIVER is an awesome song, and I hope we get more singles like this one. This song is not like the cutesy, happy songs of the past. Its edgy, its badass, and its the idol song I have truly been waiting for. Bring on more singles like this one!

I should really think before I post something….

In the future, if I fall out of a certain fandom, I will not likely bring it up here, or even count on not being a fan for very long, because something will come around that will pull me right back in and never let me go ever again. I’ve found out I’m pretty weak when it comes to fandoms of varying kind.

if you can’t guess already, I’ve rejoined the AKB48 fandom.

You may remember that in one of my earlier posts, I pretty much denounced them. However, since that post was made, 2 epic singles have been released and a crap load of other stuff has happened. And to be honest, I’ve been drawn back. And I thought it back over, and in reality, I’ve figured I just have to learn to live with some of the things I don’t like abotu AKB48, which are really minimal to the things I do like.

One thing that really helped being me back were the release of studio albums for B4, K5 and A5. I love A5 and B5, so having some nice, clean versions of the songs to listen to was exactly what I have wanted since those stages came out. Now they just need to work on getting the albums for B3, A4, H1, H2 and K4, released. If they do that, then I’ll be a happy camper. Though all that crap in regards to their previous record label may hamper those stages getting releases for quite sometime. Gotta love the music industry.

The other thing that helped bring me back is the fact that SKE48’s first original stage done by Team S is actually quite good. You’ll remember a while back I didn’t like what I heard from that preview of S2. Well, having all the songs to listen to in full really makes a difference. I also found 2 members of SKE who I would call my favs: Matsui Rena and Matsushita Yui. Both are phenomenal performers and both are in my favorite of S2’s unit songs, Ame no Pianist. Romance Rocket, Innocence and Glory Days would be my other top favorite songs of the stage, though out of all those songs, Romance Rocket is without a doubt my favorite song of the stage. Its just so damn catchy. So yeah, I consider me a fan of SKE48 now. And with Team S’s 3rd Stage starting soon (boy, that was fast) we’ll be seeing more of them in the near future.

I’ve also been thinking alot about AKB’s recent single releases. I’m still adamant about my opinion that Namida Suprise sucks. However, since then, we’ve gotten two new singles; Iwake Maybe and RIVER. Both kick ass on whole new levels and are a welcome departure from the awfulness Namida was. Iwake and RIVER are especially awesome due to the fact that their B-Sides are equally as good as the A-Side, something I find rarely happens. Its normally one or the other thats good, with the other being somewhat mediocre. Both singles have introduced a new factor for future singles; multiple member lineups. Iwake has the Senbatsu members (those who were chosen via some voting thing from Namida Suprise) who perform the A-Side and the Undergirls (I hate that name, it makes it seem as if they aren’t as good as the Senbatsu members, though in Iwake’s case, I think their better, as the B-side is just a tad more awesome than the A-side, though both are good). Essentially, the Senbatsu members were the ones who got the highest votes ( I think they went up to 16 members) and everyone else who got below that (the number of members for this wasn’t 16, so it was really the next group of members who got voted high, but not as high as the first 16) were put into the Undergirls group. All the other members who weren’t in either of these groups got left out essentially. RIVER took this to the next level and has pretty much included every AKB48 member (and Rena and Jurina from SKE48) into the songs. The Senbatsu members again do the A-Side, the Undergirls do the B-side, and the Theatre Girls (which is the name given to the rest of the girls) gets the short end of the stick by having to do one ofm my least favorite A5 songs, Hikoukigumo. Seriously, they couldn’t have let them do a new song, or at least one that thats as good as the A/B side songs? Ah well, at least all 3 songs get a PV of their own, that’s pretty awesome.

The biggest news of course as of late is the reshuffling of the Teams. Team B was hit the hardest, with only 3 original members remaining (thank god Yukirin is one of them, and she’s the new captain of Team B to boot!). At first, I hated this news, but now as time passes, I’m excited about it. I can’t wait to see the new teams i action, and with some of my Team B favs spread out amongst A and K, I have more reason to pay attention to those teams now.

So yeah, I’m back in the AKB fandom, and loving it.

Things Change

When I started this blog all that time ago, my fandom for AKB48 was likely at its highest point. At that time, I had been a fan for about a year or so I believe, and really, I felt like that I would be a huge fan for as long as the group was around.

Oh, how things change.

I now find myself and a point where, to put it bluntly, I just don’t give a frak about AKB48 anymore. Why you ask? Well, its a myriad of reasons really.

First up is the fact that the groups management seem unwilling to change whatsoever. The PV for the most recent single, Namida Suprise, was released recently, and while I haven’t watched it (and have no plans to whatsoever), I have seen some screens of it and read what fans have had to say about it. Its the same as every other AKB PV over the last little while, in that it focuses pretty much entirely on Maeda Atsuko, and is just plain uninteresting overall. This is one reason why I can no longer stand being a fan of AKB48, and its this constant need to feather Maeda in frakking EVERYTHING. Seriously, if this is the way every future PV is going to be, than that shows a complete unwillingness to change or even have some frakking variety in their group. Whats the point of having around 48 girls if your only ever going to prominently feature 1 of them? Its bullshit, thats what it is. And its not fair to the fans of other members as well. Also, I will never understand whats so damn interesting about Maeda Atusko. She’s not the best singer, she has a negative stage presence (not one where she stands out because of her abilities, but where she stands out because she always looks so fake and uninterested on stage) and its just not fair that those with far more talent that she is always pushed to the front while they are pushed far into the back. But it comes back to the whole variety thing. AKB48 would be a whole lot more interesting if they just focused on more girls, or switched it up for every PV or something. I don’t know, and I don’t care. All I know is that until this changes, it doesn’t matter if they sell massive amounts of CD’s or whatever, I won’t be coming back.

This also brings me to my second point; AKB48’s merchandising. Just a little while before I became a fan, pretty much everything AKb had to offer was released as normally as it should have been. You could buy their singles and DVD’s on the internet or in stores in Japan, just as you would expect. After the release of the H1 DVD, things changed for the worst. Now, the only thing AKb related you can buy regularily are their singles. The DVD’s are now really only released at the theater itself. Thats just bad marketing if you ask me. Now, only those who actually go to the theater can buy the DVD’s. It’s Not fair to those of us not in Japan, or even those in Japan who may not be able to get to the theater on a regular basis. The other thing that irks me is the fact that it now seems we’ll never get proper audio CD releases of AKB’s stages. Awhile back, they released the CD’s for Team A and K’s first 3 stages, and thats all we’ve gotten so far. Between then and now, we’ve gotten A4 and A5, K4 and K5, and B3 and B4, along with H1 and H2. So where the frak are the audio CD’s for these stages? Hell if I know. All I do know is, I don’t think they are ever going to be released.

The final reason would be that I am simply not liking much of their music much anymore. I just find their music lacking a certain something nowadays. Its just all getting kind of bland. I think I realized this after the dissapointment that was K5.

And don’t get me started on SKE48 or any of the other groups they may form int he future. They are a waste of time, and are getting WAY to much attention. I also don’t care for SKE invading AKb singles. Its about time they get their own so we don’t have to see that annoying little Jurina Matsui freaking everywhere AKB48 is. Seriously, I can’t stand her.

So that pretty much sums it up. As far as I am concerned, AKB48 is dead to me. Unless they come out with something that is just utterly fantastic, or they ditch Team’s A and K and just use Team B for everything, then I am officially done with them.

This does not mean the end of this blog though. Not by a longshot. I recent;y rekindled my love for the various Hello Project groups, especially Morning Musume. Their recent stuff has absolutely blown me away, especially their latest album. I’d like to do a review of that, so look forward to that. And of course there will likely be some new Gundam model reviews (and maybe some non-gundam models as well). Heck, I also might do some posts about my other addiction/pastime; World of Warcraft. There’s always some good stories to be told playing that game.

So I’m back, and I’m taking this blog in a new direction…sort of.

AKB48 Team K 5th Stage – Saka Agari

The other day, Team K began its anticipated 5th stage, and I say anticipated because everyone in the AKB48 fandom seemed to have this insane liking for K4 and was thinking that K5 could only continue the supposed awesomeness this stage began(not me in particular though, I personally thought K4 had far too many dud songs to be great overall), and I have to admit, I got sucked into the hype this time around. I mean, its a new AKB stage, how could I not get excited? But I did figure it couldn’t possibly compare to B4 in terms of awesomeness. I’ll always love Team B more than K or A, but K is far from average. They are awesome on so many levels, and I figured this stage would have to be better than K5.

Boy was I wrong.

However, before I get to the meat of my review, here’s the setlist for K5:

M1. tenohira
M2. saka agari
M3. hitei no REQUIEM
M4. sono ase wa uso wo tsukanai

M5. END ROLL (matsubara natsumi, umeda ayaka, oshima yuko, noro kayo)
M6. wagamama na nagareboshi (kobayashi kana, ono erena)
M7. ai no iro (miyazawa sae, masuda yuka, ohori megumi, ishida haruka, oku manami , chikano rina)
M8. dakishimeraretara (kuramochi asuka, kasai tomomi, satou natsuki)
M9. mushi no BALLAD (akimoto sayaka)

M10. furishite maneshite
M11. umi wo watare!
M12. machikado no PARTY

M13. FAN LETTER

EC1. fugiri
EC2. hanpa na ikemen

EC3.To be continued

For me, there is no easier way to describe this stage that this: Its boring. Plain and simple. While I didn’t completely enjoy K4 as a whole, it had a couple of really awesome rock songs. They were high energy songs that would really pump you up when you listened to them. It really gave Team K an upbeat, tough, rocker image.

Well, that feel is gone with K5, and a more mellow, yet boring and uninteresting image has been shifted into place for Team K. Most songs of this stage are generic, and uninspired. The energy that was present in a number of songs in previous K stages is gone, and replaced with what we see in this stage; something that is really just not that interesting overall.

That’s not to say I didn’t like any songs in K5. There were a couple of standouts with I thought were pretty good, and one I actually thought was particularly awesome.

The first song I found that was pretty good was Hitei no REQUIEM. Of all the songs in this stage, this was the only one that truly felt like a Team K song. Its got a great rock style. However, what makes this song particularly unique is what they do with the chorus. One group will start singing one part of the chorus, then afterward the other group will sing that same part while the lead group continues on. It makes for a really cool effect.

The next song I enjoyed was END ROLL. Its got a very slow temp to it, however it has a very latin-style dance feel to it. It truly is a unique song in comparison to other AKB48 songs.

I also really enjoyed Ai no Iro. Its one of the larger unit songs in AKB history, and it has a really great sound to it. I don’t really care for the fact that the unit is comprised of 6 members though, as that means not everyone gets their fair share of lines and are just relagated to being backdancers and whatnot.  However, the fact that my favorite Team K member Chikano RIna is in this unit automatically means this song is win…and it doesn’t help that the song by itself is just great.

The last song I enjoyed from this stage would be Sayaka’s solo song, Mushi no BALLAD. The whole prospect of Sayaka getting her own solo song was really exciting for me, however, I was initially turned away by the title.  I didn’t want another boring ballad, and Sayaka’s stellar vocals would be put to much better use in a very rock-style song. Thankfully, this song is no ordinary ballad. In fact, I would equate it to more of an 80’s style power ballad, like something akin to a Bon Jovi song or something like that. This is without a doubt my favorite song of the stage (and really, it had absolutely NO competition, considering the dribble it was up against in this stage). Sayaka really puts her best into this song, and just the whole song itself is awesome. The vocals, the beat, the pace of the song all combine to form one hell of a tune.

So yeah, out of 16 songs, those 4 were the only ones I thought worth mentioning. All in all, this stage is a bust for me overall. While it has a couple of exceptional standouts, the fact that the majority of songs are either boring or just plain generic really brings this stage down in my opinion. It doesn’t compare to its predecessor, and doesn’t even hold a candle to B4, which remains my dominant favourite of the current running stages.

So would I recommend checking out this stage. Not really. I would really recommend only checking out the ones I mentioned, but who knows, you might like some of the others. In my opinion, check out B4, A5 or even just keep listening to K4 instead. They are the superior stages.

Team B’s 4th stage – Perhaps the naughtiest to date

So you remember my review of Team B’s fourth stage from a few weeks ago. You’ll also remember I had nothing but praise for it, seeing as its just that awesome. Well, we finally got the lyrics for the songs, which is pretty sweet, as we can finally see what these songs are about.

And lets just say, one of my personal favorites, Kuchi Utsushi no Chocolate (which stars my favorite AKB48 girl Yuki Kashiwagi) is without a doubt AKB48’s raunchiest, perverse song to date. Check out the lyrics for yourself:

(ALL credit for this translation goes to Youkokurama over at Stage48 forums)

feeding you chocolate mouth-to-mouth, and not just the usual boring kiss
チョコレート　口移しして, いつものキスじゃつまんないよ
thrusting it, forcing it in…
強引にねじ込んで…
as the chocolate melts in your tongue, I want to lick your love
チョコレート　舌で溶かして, あなたの愛を舐めたいの
with lips protruding…
唇をはみ出して…
with moans and groans
ヤラシイ音を立てる

I don’t care if people see us. it’s our freedom, right?
人目を気にしないで, 私たちの自由でしょ？
being seen by others only makes me wilder
誰かに見られてると もっと大胆になれる
in the middle of an open cafe
オープンカフェの真ん中
as I climb on your lap just like that cute girl betty blue
あなたの膝によじ登って「ベティーブルー」みたいに可愛い女の子よ

loving each other under the blue sky
青空の下で愛し合えるのは
this feels even better than being naked
裸になるよりも気持ちいい

feeding you chocolate mouth-to-mouth,
チョコレート　口移しして
hugging you across and going for a deep kiss
ディープなキスをするように, 斜めから抱きしめて…
a bitter-sweet chocolate, your poison is so delicious
チョコレート　甘くビターな, あなたの毒がおいしいの
no need to close your eyes
目を閉じちゃもったいない
wanting to get into a lot of trouble
いっぱい困らせたいの

I just want to be honest with this feeling I have
自分のその気持ちに, 正直でいたいだけよ
people can after all become the animals they are
人間は誰だって　ただの動物になれる
spilling a cup of cocoa, spreading thru-out my uniform
カップのココアこぼして, 制服に染み広がっても
who cares about that
そんなのどうでもいい
all that matters is what’s going on right now
大事なのは今だけ

flying so high into the sky
上空　飛んでる
no longer able to hear the sound of a helicopter
ヘリコプターの音も
no longer able to hear anything, that’s what love is
何も聞こえない　愛とはそういうもの

feeding you chocolate mouth-to-mouth, and not just the usual boring kiss
チョコレート　口移しして, いつものキスじゃつまんないよ
thrusting it, forcing it in…
強引にねじ込んで…
as the chocolate melts in your tongue, I want to lick your love
チョコレート　舌で溶かして, あなたの愛を舐めたいの
with lips protruding…
唇をはみ出して…
with moans and groans
ヤラシイ音を立てる

feeding you mouth-to-mouth
口移しして,
hugging you across and going for a deep kiss
ディープなキスをするように, 斜めから抱きしめて…
a bitter-sweet chocolate, your poison is so delicious
チョコレート　甘くビターな, あなたの毒がおいしいの
no need to close your eyes
目を閉じちゃもったいない
loving your panic stricken face
困った顔も素敵よ
See what I mean?

I think the only AKB48 song that even comes close to this is Seifuku ga jama wo suru, and even I don’t think its as nasty as this.

Doesn’t lessen my opinion of the song though…hell if anything it makes me love it even more…though, one has to wonder if it was a good idea putting a young member like Oota Aika in this song.

Yet another AKB48 Graduation

Yeah…it happened again.

It what seems to be shaping up as the seemingly genocide of AKB48’s original members, Team K member Hayano Kaoru announced her graduation today.

This is an interesting one as she recently moved to a bigger talent agency, and some people saw that as preparation for an upcoming graduation. Guess they were right.

Its also the first Team K graduation in some time.

Now, I’m all for AKB48 members leaving to move on to bigger, more awesome things, but these graduations are getting out of hand. I mean, its not even 3 months into the year and we’ve had 3 graduations announced in the last month or so. I’m starting to think the management is perhaps getting rid of the old and bringing in the new…if you will.

The Slaughter Continues, AKA: It sucks to be a Team A fan right now…and some other thoughts

So if the graduation of 5 of Team A’s original members at once wasn’t bad enough awhile ago, 2 more original A members have announced their graduations as of late; Oshima Mai and Kawasaki Nozomi. Its become quite apparent that if your a big Team A fan right now, then it sucks to be you.

Now, these graduations are big news, but the AKB48 fan community has taken these graduations a lot better than the 5 previous A graduations. One reason? A lot of fans, myself included, saw these 2 coming long ago, even before the 5 previous grads. Both girls are quite busy outside of AKB48, so in reality, graduating from AKB48 is a good thing for them, as they will be able to concentrate more on what they want to do in life, and really isn’t that the point after all?

I for one have to admit something…I’m excited to see them off. Not only to see what they do outside of AKB48, but to see who replaces them in AKB48. Not all the fans would agree with me on that last point, but I for one am always excited about new members being put into the fold. In fact, quite a few of the Research Students are exceptionally talented, and I actually like some of them more than regular AKB48 members. It will be interesting to see who is brought in to replace Mai and Nozomi.

Here’s the other thing, when Mai and Nozomi graduate, there will be 4 open spots over all 3 teams; 3 on A and 1 on B.  It will be interesting to see who gets added. No matter what, I do hope Chikano Rina is among them. Of all the current RS, she’s my fav (especially after watching B4, which she actually has a big part in) so I hope she gets promoted soon…to Team B of course. Though, I just hope she gets promoted to any team really…

Team B Fourth Stage – Idol no Yoake

So at long last, Team B’s fourth Stage, Idol No Yoake has begun. And after watching the LOD video of the first show, I have to say that this is by far the best stage any of the 3 teams have ever done…EVER. Every song in this stage is a winner, and it exceeded my expectations in every way. I was somewhat worried that it wouldn’t be as good as the awesomeness that was B3…but B4 blows B3 (and every other AKB stage) out of the water and continues the level of greatness that is Team B.

First up, here’s the set list:

M1. Idol no Yoake
M2. Minnasan mo go Isshouni
M3. Haru Ichiban ga Fuku Goro
M4. Kobushi no Seigi

M5. Zannen Shoujo (Nakatsuka Tomomi, Watanabe Mayu, Uchida Mayumi)
M6. Kuchiutsushi no CHOCOLATE (Oota Aika, Kashiwagi Yuki, Hirajima Natsumi)
M7. Kataomoi no Taikakusen (Chikano Rina, Nitou Moeno, Yonezawa Rumi)
(BD uriya akane , suzuki mariya, satou sumire, saotome miki, nonaka misato, ooya shizuka)
M8. Tengoku Yarou (Urano Kazumi, Nakagawa Haruka, Kohara Haruka, Nakaya Sayaka)
M9. Itoshi no Natassha (Tanabe Miku, Sashihara Rino, Katayama Haruka)

M10. Joshikousei Hayamerarenai
M11. Suki to Ieba Yokatta
M12. Sobakasu no Kissu

EC1. B Stars
EC2. Yokosuka curve
EC3. Arigatou

The opening song, Idol no Yoake really surprised me with its style. It wasn’t what iw as expecting, but I really loved it. The whole routine is that of a marching band, and the girls use various instruments during the song. What was awesome for me was that Yukirin was playing the trombone, the very same instrument that I played back in elementary school (and likely would have played in hish school if I continued with it). How awesome is that. The song is a very cute song, and a really cool opener.

Next up is Minnasan mo go Isshouniis, a very fast paced song, and one of those classic hyper, sugary songs. Its very cool to listen to, especially the opening instrumental.

Haru Ichiban ga Fuku Goro is third on the list.  This song is also a bit of an unbeat song. It has a somewhat somber feel to it, yet its still a feel good sounding song.

Kobushi no Seigi is next, and it is just awesome. The girls wear some really badass costumes for this one, and it fits with the songs hard-rock sound. I can’t really say anything other than this song rocks to the max. Its just that good, and gives Team B another new image; hardcore and badass.

Zannen Shoujo is the first of the unit songs, and is probably one of my favorite songs out of all of B4, and mainly because it a) has an incredible sound and b) features new Team B member Nakatsuka Tomomi. I was excited to see her in B4, and she is phenomenal in this stage, and this song in particular. I absolutely love her voice, as its quite strong. Tomomi was also quite prominent throughout the whole stage, as I noticed her quite a bit.

Kuchiutsushi no CHOCOLATE is another great song, and quite an interesting member lineup. I was worried how Yukirin would do with Naachan and Lovetan, as she’s a far stronger singer than either of them, but she manages to make it work, and the song is great. Then again, Yukirin is in it, so how can I not love it.

Kataomoi no Taikakusen is ridiculously awesome. I was glad to see Yonechan finally featured in a unit, and she’s absolutely amazing in this song, along with Moeno and Rina. THis also brings me to another point; Chikano Rina needs to be added to Team B…right now. I absolutely love her in this song, and if she gets promoted to any other Team than B, then I’ll be pretty upset.

Tengoku Yarou is a song that is just so funny and hyper…and insanely crazy. Just watching this performance is a laugh riot, and its really just one of those wacky enjoyable songs.

Itoshi no Natassha is another of my top favorites, mainly because it features Haachan (doing her best to be as sexy as she can…and she pulls it off quite well) and it also features Tanamin, who is usually quite neglected, but she’s phenomenal in this song. It begs the question as to why she was so neglected before. She’s a great performer and a top notch singer. Sashi is also great in this, and I’m starting to like her alot more nowadays.

Joshikousei Hayamerarenai is up next, and this song is very cool. However, as soon as the song started, I was reminded of Morning Musume’s hit song Love Machine, and it shows throughout the whole song, as its VERY reminiscent of LM. However, it doesn’t take away from the song, and its still a cool song.

Suki to Ieba Yokatta is next, and is another top notch upbeat song. A great song overall.

Sobakasu no Kissu is a fun song, and a little slower than the rest of the stage. Its still a very bubbly, upbeat song, and another great song for a great stage.

Tanpop no kesshin is really one of the only 2 slow songs of this stage. Now, I’m normally not a big fan of slower songs, but I really like this one, along with the other ballad, Arigato. This is a very sweet sounding song, and not boring in anyway, which is usually my issue with slow songs.

B Stars is just beyond cool. I guess you could say this is Team B’s new anthem of sorts, and what an anthem it is. Its just so fast paced and… awesome. This is without a doubt my favorite song of the stage. I really can’t do this song justice, you have to give this one a listen.

Yokosuka curve is just a really cool song, and I love the beat and pace of the song.Another of my top favs of this stage.

Arigatou is the last song of this epic stage, and its a great way to end the stage in my opinion. Its a slow song of course, but its sweet and somber sounding, and I think does a good job of closing things up.

So as you’ve noticed by now, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this stage. And how can I, its everything I was hoping for…and much much more. It really is, in my humble opinion, the best AKB48 stage to date, and it really shows off how awesome Team B is. Congrats to Team B, for another epic Stage show!

AKB48 Team B – When will the Madness end?

RSL over at Where’s Natsuki? already somewhat posted on all of this briefly, but I’ve wanted to talk about this for sometime now myself.

So after probably being the longest running AKB48 Stage yet, B3 is finally coming to a grand close. Its been a great stage, probably the best stage yet to be honest, but this stage has also seen Team B utterly decimated.

First of all, we had Kikuchi Ayaka fired for that whole boyfriend scandal. Now, I won’t oging into the details about it, but it was sad to see her go, as she was one of the front runners of Team B. Now, she’s been brought back as a Research Student. Kinda pointless to fire her in the first place, eh AKB48 management?

Next was the graduation of Inoue Naru (or did this happen before Ayarin was fired, I don’t recall). Now, I’ll admit to not being the biggest Naru fan, but she was a damn powerful performer, both in dancing and vocally. This was a huge blow to Team B, losing one if its best.

Now both of these happened quite a few months ago, so there was  a brief period of no bad news. The calm before the storm if you will. Then it all exploded in our faces.

First, Matsuoka Yuki announced she would be graduating at the end of B3. For me, this was another huge blow. Yuki is an incredibly talented performer, but for some bizarre reason, she was in fact the least popular member out of all of AKB48. A travesty, no? It kinda makes me wonder about the Japanese fans. Do they even recognize talent? Yuki is talented, there’s no doubt about that. And now that she’s gone, it feels like Team B has lost one of its most vital organs.

Next up would be Saeki Mika’s announcement that she would be on leave for 6th months due to injury. Now, this is actually not as bad as everything else. She hasn’t been fired ot graduated or anything, but she will be gone for quite some time, so that means for a long portion of B4, she won’t be there. I absolutely loved Mikachi in Temo Demo with Yukirn, and that proved to me how talented she is, so I will defenitly miss her, and I can’t wait for her to return already, and she what she does in B4. Hopefully they save a spot for her.

If all this wasn’t bad enough, then we got the news that Saotome Miki apparently had decided to go down to Team Research Student. Now I already posted my thoughts on this, so I won’t go into detail about this again, but I will re-iterate what crap this whole situation was. Remember it was supposedly because she wasn’t up to Team B standard or some crock, yet anyone who has seen Miki perform will tell you how absolutely fierce she is on stage. But its hard for someone to be at their full potential when they are not given the chance to.

Now, to end all this bad news, or to add to it I guess, it was announced today that Noguchi Reina would be graduating at the last performance of B3  (Which is today as far as I know). Know, I was never a big fan of Reina, but I was starting to warm up to her. She’s incredibly adorable, and like Miki, never really got a chance to show her full potential.

So, over the last year, Team B has essentially lost 6 members (well, Mikachi’s leave is only temporary, but still…). This for me is just utterly ridiculous. Team B is already shafted enough within the group. Their members are hardly ever chosen for singles, and they don’t get publicity like the other Teams do.

But let me bring this back to the whole issue of the singles. When Team B was first brought into the fold, Mayu was semmingly the face of Team B, and was the only one selected for singles (I’m excluding Bingo from this as practically everyone was in that one). Now, I’m starting to like Mayu alot more lately, so I won’t say anything bad, but it was like Team B didn’t exist for a time when they first debuted, besides Mayu. Now lately, its gotten a little better, and by that I mean its still not as good as it should be. We are not at a point where Team A continues to dominate the singles in terms of selected members, while Team K usually gets around 5o or 6, and B continues to get just 2 or 3. And this brings me to another point, over half of Team B has yet to be selected for a single, and as should be obvious, a few of them never will. I’m talking about Noguchi Reina, Matsuoka Yuki, Inoue Naru and likely Saotome Miki. In the case of the first 3, obviously they are gone from the group now, and have never been chosen for a single. Thats a crying shame if you ask me. They had all the talent, all the ability to perform well in a single, but I guess it boils down to one thing…popularity.

In regards to this issue, RSL posted something on the Stage48 problems struck me as quite substantial in this regards:

All three Teams are in their own ways. I think we’ve decided that by now. I hate to say it again and again, but Team B won’t have more members in a single until more members get popular enough to get in the single. It’s not a ‘Team’ thing at all. It’s a popularity contest between the whole group.

Sadly, he’s correct, but that doesn’t mean I can’t say its right. Yes, members are put into singles because of their popularity (or because they want to push certain members forward, like the age defying Matsui Jurina of SKE48  ) but one thing I don’t think nobody realizes is that perhaps a member can gain popularity by being seen in a single, or…gasp…getting solo lines in a single. Its stuff like this that kinda makes me think that the AKB management is afraid to take risks at all, and will be giving us the same members over and over again for some time now.

This really all boils down to the fact that Team B gets hit the hardest of all 3 teams. Now some will disagree with me, but I just don’t see the other Teams being hit as hard.
Now, you may be going, “but Aigon, what about the 5 members of Team A who just graduated.”

Ok, there’s that. But this brings me to another point. Those 5 members got quite a grand sendoff at the NHK Hall concert. It was pretty tear jerking from what I’ve heard. Now, lets take at look at the 3 members of Team B who have graduated recently (Naru, Yuki, Reina). Lets look at the great sendoff they got…..oh wait….they didn’t get one.

Am I the only one who thinks thats horribly unfair? Now sure, the 5 Team A members are essentially some of AKB’s original members…but the 3 from Team B are also original B members. Do they deserve less simply because they were part of Team B and not A or K? I personally don’t think so…and I think its just sad that they get no real graduation sendoff like others have gotten in the past. Its like saying to them that they weren’t really important to AKB48.

So I think I’ve gone on long enough. But it does feel good to vent about this. Thanks for bearing with me.