It’s hard to believe Tsubaki Factory is on their third single already. In all honestly, I really haven’t seen much of them. Its been on my to-do list for some time but for whatever reason, ANGERME aside, I’ve fallen a little behind in the H!P realm. Maybe it’s just my ongoing case of August going on, but I should catch up. Good things are happening, apparently.
Format-wise, this PV is pretty straight forward. By and large it’s a dance PV. A lot of the video follows H!P norms. It’s shot in a large open space, colors for the outfits are soft, and there’s some gimmicky after effects to tie some scenes together. Yup, we’re in H!P waters here for sure. Unlike most H!P sets, this one isn’t totally barren. It looks to be filmed in some kind of expo center space. There’s some stairs, windowed off rooms, and random stuff to keep the girls company in this one. It’s not exactly scenic but it’s better than a giant white wall.
The outfits for this one are pretty generic, but pleasant. Most girls are wearing an almost knee-length skirt with a light colored top. The outfits are very typical Japanese style-wise with the dull colors, but look quite nice. The girl who made the best visual first impression on me, after consulting a wiki, is Ogata Risa. She’s a cute girl overall, but throughout the PV she has her hair pulled over to one side, which for some reason beyond words is a thing I like. Everyone looks nice, though. I’m also surprised to learn most members in this group are 16 or 17. Most of them definitely look more youthful than that.
This PV has good technicals behind it, but perhaps not great. The dancing and choreography are nice enough. They’re pretty light, but it fits with the atmosphere of the video and song. The solo shots make use of some afterffects in the form of a manga-like scene transition to blend things together. The transitions are very gradual and do a nice job of giving some life to the scenes. The lighting is consistently good and while everything is given a soft tint, the color modification is not at all distracting. This is a really good looking video. The only downside would be there just isn’t much going on.
The song is the most “typical” sounding Hello! Project song I’ve heard in a while. This song sounds like a mountain of songs before it, and especially has a C-ute vibe to it. It’s not a bad thing at all. This is a great go-to song if you’re in the mood for some light pop. The vocals are nicely delivered but are a bit lacking in the flare department. This song is very chorus-oriented, so no one really gets a chance to stand out. I guess I can’t take away too many points since this is simply by design. I guess my mind sees “Factory” in their name and expects Inoue Rei belting it out.
Tsubaki Factory’s 3rd single dropped August 6th.
Watch: YouTube (Official)
