It's only been slightly over a month since this was released and I'm already antsy for new Morning Musume music. I want to see the new members (or at least one) getting solo lines in the next single because I was disappointed that that didn't happen with this release. I think that at the very least, a generation's first single should give them a solo line each. Or in at least one of the A-sides (since it doesn't look like H!P is ending the double/triple A-side stupidity anytime soon). As this was the first single for the 12th gen, I was really excited to see how their voices would sound in MM. Unfortunately we really didn't get to hear that with this release.
The first A-side is Seishun Kozou ga Naiteiru. I don't care what anyone else says. Keep up with the EDMusume Up-Front! I personally feel like they started this year very strong with this track. Even though I love EDM, the EDM singles from last year were a bit lackluster. I don't really listen to any of them from last year except for their album tracks (which really were fantastic and I wish they'd released one of them as a single instead.). Where the songs from last year (except TokiSora & Egao) felt like rehashes of each other, Seishun Kozou is able to differentiate itself from those tracks. Seishun sounds like it could fit among the album tracks from 14 Shou. I like that Tsunku is finally beginning to experiment a little within EDM. There is still SO MUCH MORE he could do (I'd love to see them reach into the Zedd/Calvin Harris type territory with a truly good dance), but the bridge gets the closest to what I want to see so far. Hoping next single pushes further. This song has two MVs for it, the typical H!P dance shot+closeups & the video created by the winner of the director contest they held. I'm probably in the minority opinion that prefers the H!P version to the other version. I like the concept of the other version with showing off their personalities and trying to give the video some character (the final shots with the pink sky & flower petals were AMAZING. One of the best visuals I've seen from them); however, I really don't feel like the video was that well done. For starters, they shouldn't have put the dancing parts in at all. The dance for this single is messy anyways & it looks 10x as bad in those shots. The exploding clothes scenes were very strange as well. Not sure how that fit in with the rest of the concept. If you're going to go "crazy", take a note from Stardust Promotion MVs and at least make it coherent. Now, the cheerleading shots were very cool. I like the concept of "cheering" for the new members and integrating them into the group. With that video, good ideas not so good execution. I thought that the H!P version was actually very pretty. The girls looked STUNNING in the solo shots. I really didn't care for Akane until that video was released but I was so impressed with the way she was in that MV. H!P's version also helps the dance to not look so messy. Personally, I wish they'd end the formation dance thing & try something harder. Formation dance was cute with Wagamama & Ai no Gundan but I know these girls are better dancers than that. They should do a routine closer to the Hello Station dance club thing. That would be impressive & would catch people's attention as they've been doing formation dance for so long. 5/5
The second A-side is Yuugure wa Ameagari. I like that they are doing different kinds of songs on the singles. As much as I'd be pleased with three Seishun Kozous, I realize that's a pretty poor marketing strategy. These lighter songs still have an EDM base to it, but it's different enough to not sound like another Seishun. The lighter songs from last year (Egao & TokiSora) hadn't completely been sold on me. Egao is ok at best and TokiSora, although good, feels like it's missing something. Yuugure is TokiSora brought to the next level. I truly adore this song. I know it's a hopeful song, but there's something that feels sad about the melody. Maybe bittersweet is a better word to describe the song. This song is quickly becoming one of my favorites of theirs ever. The dance for this song is so beautiful. I remember watching the concert performance on Hello Station and being completely blown away. A huge shout out to Masaki Sato in this song and dance. To me, she outshone every other member. At this point, I don't even remember Karin is in the MVs until she pops up. It's still stupid that they gave her solo shots, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter. 5/5.
The final A-side is Ima Koko Kara. I originally really disliked this. Not really the song, just the whole thing around it. As a huge Tsunku fan, I wasn't too excited to hear a MM track done by someone else, especially because it was written for an anime. Besides the Love Live series (which didn't start as an anime anyway), I don't think I can name an anime associated song that I actually enjoy. I really became hostile towards the song when I heard the PreCure version. I couldn't believe they were going to make MM do something so childish. I still tried to hate the song when MM's version came out....but I couldn't xD. MM's version has a beat to it and they don't sound childish which is a plus. It's so so catchy. I wouldn't mind too much if MM went in a direction like this. My only real criticism of the song is that certain music pieces in the composition are ripped straight from TokiSora and the song as a whole is too short. I like the music video, but I wish that the anime cutscenes weren't there. I know why they are, and you can't really have the MV without them, but the anime looks stupid. It really does. It looks like a cross between Love Live & Tokyo Mew Mew. And I really don't like anime to begin with. Yeah, I know I'm being overly harsh on it give my dislike of most animes, but if any video from this single needed an alternate version, it was this one. 5/5.
Like I've said before, anything related to H!P is extremely biased as you can tell lol. I do feel like this release is very strong compared to last year's singles. I hope they can keep up the pace with their next single. 5/5.
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