[PV Roundup] Up Up Girls (Kari), Juice=Juice, Morning Musume ’16, PASSPO☆, AKB48

Morning Musume ’16 – “Sexy Cat no Enzetsu”

I’ve felt a bit lost with Morning Musume this year. Their previous single ended up being a pretty good release, but it still feels odd to me that Sayashi Riho isn’t there. Pinnacled with the release of her brilliant photo book, Makino Maria has taken the lead as the girl I’m most interested in. Calling her my oshi feels odd, though. It’s kind of funny since usually I move on immediately from graduations, but this one has been challenging. Looking past that, Momusu has decided to grace us with one more single this year, and it’s off to a pretty unique start.

If you tell me Hello! Project is above trying to sell sex after this one, I will smack you. The content in this PV gets just a little wild. Fukumura Mizuki, Oda Sakura, and Kudo Haruka get into more than a few compromising positions as the titular sexy cats, and the other members aren’t exactly innocent either. The member interaction scenes in this one are more than a little sultry in nature. A lot of them take place on or near beds. There are even shots filmed from above with the members laying around and writhing around in a suggestive way.

If you can hang with such imagery, you’ll enjoy this video. The filming is extremely high quality and the filmed from above shots look absolutely amazing. The fan service is well done and fun, the expressions are wonderful, and the slow, subtle movements the members make really energize these scenes with even more sultry prowess. It’s definitely not something everyone will like, but if you don’t mind a dose of playfulness with your idols, this PV is made for me. I mean, uh, you. Sorry.

There’s also a selection of dance scenes. They’re satisfactory. The dance moves are pretty typical of what we’ve seen with Morning Musume in the past. There’s some intricacy to the group shots but it doesn’t rely on sync or a particular move, so it comes off as less memorable. There’s a few shots I really like where the camera gets so close to the members that the lighting is partially obscured. These shots feature some memorable expressions and break the norm in an awesome way. I found it to be a very nice touch.

And of course, the outfits. They feature a lot of purple and dark gray along with some fur and tails for our cat ladies. The sexy element is more than apparent. All of the outfits are showy for sure. They all have semi-transparent fabric in the shoulder area, but some members have some of that in the stomach region, too. That’s assuming their stomachs are covered at all. I personally like the outfits with the transparent fabric on the sides and the solid stripe going up the front. It’s nice looking without exposing all the goods. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Since we’re already talking this, Up Front appears to be wasting no time in utilizing Makino Maria as the new eye candy of this group. Her outfit is by far the most showy. Her shorts cover only what must be covered, her outfit went full tummy, and the top lets the shoulders roam free. Hopefully this description is “PC” enough. I’m glad to see her becoming more prominent since I am developing a bias for her, but it’s hard to miss the push. But hey, it works. She’s an extremely gorgeous girl.

Anyway, bias or not I think everyone looks awesome in this PV. The outfits are super showy but not inappropriate, in my liberal opinion. Aside from Maria, I’m also particular wowed by Oda Sakura and Nonaka Miki. Miki seems noticeably cuter for whatever reason, and Oda’s growing up way too well. She reminds me of LinLin in this PV, and that’s a massive compliment. It’s a huge relief that she’s grown out of some of her Takahashi Ai-like features. At least for me. I couldn’t stand her. So much so that it started Oda off at a disadvantage. We all have our breaking points, I guess.

As for the song, it’s alright. While I really like the sultry tempo of the instrumentals and the pace of the lines in the verses, it all sounds a little too synthesized and flat. The vocal arrangement is strictly by the book and doesn’t really feature anyone in particular. Its got flare in some ways, but is missing it entirely in others. I can forgive an okay song since we got such a fun PV, but I’m hoping some of the other tracks will be a little better.