I know this single is really old, but I decided that whenever I receive any CD I might as well blog about the songs, since it's probably the only way I'd post with any regularity.
C-ute is a Japanese girl group that was formed in 2006 as part of Hello! Project. Today, they are currently comprised of five members: Maimi Yajima, Saki Nakajima, Airi Suzuki, Chisato Okai, and Mai Hagiwara. Maimi was also recently named the new leader of Hello! Project after Sayumi Michishige (from Morning Musume) graduates at the end of November. So congrats to her! When this single was released, however, C-ute had seven members. Along with the current five members, Erika Umeda and Kanna Arihara were also members until 2009. Sakura Chirari was released in February of 2007 as C-ute's first major label single. Before this release, they had four indies singles.
I have to admit that up until recently I was not a fan of C-ute. They released some good songs, but I never cared to check out any of their older material. Even when I did hear some of their older songs nothing really caught my attention. Personally, I think out the of current Hello! Project acts, C-ute has the weakest early singles. There's some good ones here and there, but as a whole, up until 2013 their music was weak to me. I really dislike how average the majority of their early singles are because when C-ute releases good songs, the songs are easily some of the best releases in Hello! Project history. Tokkaiko Junjou, Kiss Me Ashiteru, Aitai Aitai Aitai na, and a lot of their recent material are some of the best Japanese songs of all time for me.
Now I became a fan of Hello! Project in 2012, after I had been a fan of Morning Musume for a couple years before that, so I never experienced this song when it was released. When I first heard it, I was listening to a lot of Hello! Project songs to understand more about their history (I was using past concert setlists off of the Hello! Project Wikia for this xD It's actually a pretty good way for a new fan to get acquainted with the main songs of all the groups.) and I admit I did not care for it all that much. I became a fan of Hello! Project mainly for the EDM flavored songs they had begun to put out so this song just seemed like a kooky J-pop song that I had no interest in. Fast forward two years and I really like it. I guess the main difference is that I've really come to appreciate C-ute as opposed to 2012 where to me they were just "that other group that H!P has".
As for the song itself, it's catchy and cute but I am very glad that Hello! Project has gone in a much different direction 7 years later. C-ute's also grown up a lot too. I mean, when watching the video for the first time I couldn't believe how little they were and how much they've grown now. It must've been really cool to follow them from the start and watch them grow as they've changed quite a bit. Also with the music video, it's just.....not good. I don't understand why people complain about Hello! Project's music videos now when in the past they were SO BAD and SO TACKY xD. The outfits are just terrible. I realize it's a cute, fun song about flower blossoms by a very young group but gosh the outfits just look bad. The second "normal" outfits are so much cuter and would've been better for the entire video. To be honest I'm pretty glad that H!P doesn't do all that many "costumes" for their singles anymore, and when they are all "costume"-like, they are so much better.
Sakura Chirari MV:
The coupling song for this single, Jump, was much better on first listen than Sakura Chirari. However, to me it doesn't have any replay value while Sakura Chirari does. Figure that one out....I'd rather listen to the song I find to be worse xD I'd say that Jump reminds me more of their material from 2008-2010 than their earlier material.
Jump (audio only):
For the title song, I'd give it a 4/5. It's just fun and catchy even if it isn't even remotely one of C-ute's best. For the release as a whole, it would still be a 4/5. Both songs are good, but nothing special. Still, it's great to listen to this single if you are a new fan just for the wow factor of where they were versus where they are now. Enjoy the tracks!
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