This Morning Musume ’16 single has been quite a ride. We went from meh to hype, and I wasn’t sure what to expect next. Little did I know we’d be taking a trip down memory lane with the old school Morning Musume sound I’ve missed for so long!
Before I can harp on about how much I love the song, we gotta get through this video. Luckily, this is not a chore. Right away, we’re greeted with actual colors, guys! Vivid, lively colors! There is a tad of filter to it, but it doesn’t dull everything out. Wow! There’s definitely a feel of retro to the set to go with the song. It looks pretty with its accents of red and blue. Also in the back is a DJ stand for the upcoming graduate Suzuki Kanon to strut her stuff one more time. Quite honestly, I had totally forgotten she was graduating. She definitely didn’t get the all-star treatment like Tamura Meimi did in ANGERME’s single.
The colorfulness continues with the outfits. We’re treated to a rainbow of blue, yellow, and pink that don’t seem to be split between generations or any other reason in particular. The tops are various degrees of revealing but even the most revealing ones aren’t too risqué. The girls also get some rather nice hair pieces for this PV, featuring feathers and various frilly decorations. The 1/8th Native American blood in me is pleased. While everyone looks some degree of lovely, the visual MVP of this PV is Makino Maria. She looks fantastic, man. She will grow up to be a stunner, no doubt in my mind. That’s all I will say for now.
If there is any negative to the PV, I’d say it perhaps doesn’t surprise much. It’s pretty much the dance shot with a few solo and random group shots thrown in. It’s all really fun, well shot, and gorgeously presented throughout, so I can forgive it. The dance for this song is pretty intense. I really like the high energy it presents while sprinkling in a few bits of humor and fun. Some of my favorite shots are the darkly lit dance floor shots we see in the last third of the PV. These are pretty fantastic and give the PV a slight dose of sexiness for some of our older members. Can’t complain about that.
As for the song, oh man, this might be my favorite Morning Musume song in a while. It feels like really old Morning Musume, particularly early 2000’s stuff that I fell in love with oh so long ago. In particular, this song feels like some amazing love child of “Souda! We’re Alive” and SKE48’s “1! 2! 3! 4! Yoroshiku”. The instrumentals are completely clear of EDM-like elements for the first time in what feels like a long time, and replaced with some light yet energetic pop works.
It really does feel like music from a few idol generations ago and it’s wonderful for this long-time fan. It does have quite a bit of retro feeling in the chosen synth tracks which isn’t surprising considering the prevalence of this sound in idol music lately. It’s well done, though, and the throwback to older H!P is so nice.
Well, done, Morning Musume, you did it again. It feels good to be plugged back in.
Morning Musume ’16’s 61st single drops May 11th.
Watch: YouTube (Official)
Buy on Amazon JP: Type A [Regular Edition]
| Type B [Regular Edition]
| Type C [Regular Edition]
| Type A [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]
| Type B [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]
| Type C [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]
Buy on CDJapan:
Type A [Regular Edition] | Type B [Regular Edition] | Type C [Regular Edition] | Type A [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] | Type B [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] | Type C [w/ DVD, Limited Edition]
