What a ride it’s been with Morning Musume over the last 15 years. I’ve lost track of all the ups and downs I’ve had with this group, but I’ve always come back to them at some point. Recently I’ve hit a bit of a down turn due to losing yet another oshi to graduation, and their music has kinda paled in comparison to some of the other H!P groups. Luckily, it seems like the group, or myself, or both of us are coming back to better terms, but our relationship still needs work.
The first thing we’ll notice about this PV is it was shot in the H!P hangar. The background is totally black save for some randomly placed lighting fixtures. These lights remain solid and dimly lit throughout the PV, so they’re quite literally just there for show. Considering how we’ve had H!P PV’s in totally monochrome rooms before, I guess it’s nice something is there.
We also often see cameras filming the PV between our view and the group. I get it’s supposed to be artsy, but breaking the fourth wall sticks out, and not in a great way in this case. On the bright side though, the PV is will lit. There are some solo shots filmed around a…wall. Or a garage door. Equally enthralling.
In other positive comments, the girls look great. The dance shot outfits are these basic, but cute colored band dresses featuring fairly dulled out colors. Well, maybe that’s the moderate Japan filter doing that. Who knows? In any case they’re adequate and light enough to dance in easily. Some shots also feature civilian wear and the girls look quite nice, which is almost a waste as these shots aren’t used very much. The biggest instance of these shots is a rapidly changing face shot where all the girls are rotated a few syllables each as they sing.
This would be a really badass shot if it weren’t for the glaringly bad camerawork. When dealing with girls of various heights, it’s good to choose a focal point and keep it consistent. If the eyes, nose, whatever is in one place it’s far easier on the eyes to keep in contact, but the constant bobbing makes for a headache-inducing oshi search. It’s really disappointing as this could have been a great charm point for the PV.
The technicalities of the PV are adequate. The dancing seems nice enough but I don’t think the camerawork plays up the strengths of the scenes as much as it could. That aside the shots are nice enough. They choose some pretty good head shots throughout the PV for sure. The lighting is bright and consistent, which I find good for this PV’s style. All in all, this PV has a good feel, but some parts of it feel like a rough cut.
The song is…hmm, well, I find it better than some of their recent ones. It still has a very similar lighter electronic sound, but there is some dubstep-ish overtones to this one as well. Quite honestly, I think it’s average. I could listen to it, but I wouldn’t go looking for it. That sort of feeling. I could have done for some more solo lines, but it seems like I say that about every Morning Musume song. I wish I could hype or gripe in either direction but really, I’m just sitting here mentally shrugging. It sounds like Morning Musume, I don’t love or hate it, it’s just their formula through and through.
All in all, everything here just feels okay, except for how great the girls looked. Makino Maria and Ogata Haruna especially.
Morning Musume’s 61st single drops May 11th.
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