Its been a rough time for Niji no Conquistador this year in some ways. The sudden firing of Nagata Minari was not exactly great PR, and Shigematsu Yuka announcing her graduation is another blow to the ranks of this group. There have been highs however, mostly dealing with Nemoto Nagi getting a solo debut of sorts as well are her being in a swimsuit at nearly every available opportunity. With summer upon us, it’s time for every member to get some sun in this fun PV.
Nijicon pulls no punches when it comes to their summer PVs. Right away we see this video is going to be a mostly outdoor affair. The fun begins at a table where the girls seem to be playfully arguing as they sing along to the song. The argument is quickly solved by an outfit swap to bikinis and heading off to the beach to dance. I think a lot of the world’s problems could be solved in this way. Let’s give it a try, United Nations!
The outfits for this one all fit the summer expectations. The non-bikini wear tends to be dresses that are light in color and fairly stylish. Everyone looks awesome in these shots. When we go to the beach, everyone gets a bikini with some being more conservative than others, but most are pretty showy. Nemoto Nagi in particular is, simply put, bouncing all over the place in a certain area. There’s also a seifuku-like outfit for the members in a few of the solo shots. We don’t see much of these, which is good because I vastly prefer the civilian wears. Still, there’s some good shots of them on a pier with these outfits that feature some nice and leggy shots. My bias for legs is thankful. Ahem.
Everyone looks wonderful in this PV, but I’ve gotta give special props to Tsurumi Moe. I gotta say the selection of wearing stockings with shorts in her civilian wear shots strikes me as a bit…unique, but hey, works for me. I’m kinda amazed that I haven’t really noticed her before now. She’s an exceptionally beautiful girl from head to toe.
The dancing and choreography to this one are typical of a summer PV. It relies more on fun and less on technicalities. Luckily, this PV has plenty of fun to it. The member interaction is fun to watch and the eye candy easily covers any missteps in the dancing caused by the unstable floor they have to work with.
Sadly there is one kink in the fun. This PV has some ridiculous amounts of color manipulation. Pretty much all of the shots have an absurd amount of contrast to them. Outdoor shots especially tend to glow a little more than they should, and some more wide shots look washed out in contrast. It’s really frustrating to see because the scenery and the girls all look so wonderful. Otherwise, this PV’s production value is pretty good. Camerawork does a good job of staying with the sometime chaotic scenes and member screen time is satisfactory. I wouldn’t call it totally even, but it has a bias for Moe so I really can’t fault it personally.
I usually find Nijicon PVs to be fun, but their music has been very spotty for me. They’ve got some good tunes here and there, but a lot of stuff that honestly doesn’t make my rotation at all. This song however, I quite enjoy. It’s a bit more generic than their usual stuff, which for me is actually a plus. Some of their previous audio gimmicks are a bit much for me, but this song sounds like a typical pop song with a slight rock twist. It has a good amount of energy to it. Their vocals are definitely that of idols, meaning their singing won’t win any awards but in the context of songs like this it’s fun to listen to.
Niji no Conquistador’s 6th single drops September 20th.
Watch: YouTube (Official)
Buy on Amazon JP: Niji Ban
| Aka Ban
| Daidai Ban
| Ki Ban
| Midori Ban
| Ao Ban
| Ai Ban
| Murasaki Ban
| Kin Ban [CD+DVD]
Buy on CDJapan: Niji Ban | Aka Ban | Daidai Ban | Ki Ban | Midori Ban | Ao Ban | Ai Ban | Murasaki Ban | Kin Ban [CD+DVD]
