Berryz Koubou "Heroine ni Narou ka?" PV

Well, Berryz Koubou's new single "Heroine ni Narou ka?", to be released the first week of March, now has a PV which, it appears, has attracted very mixed reactions.

I guess I'll throw my own into the fray.

The PV is good. Like everyone else, I'm sure, my first reaction upon seeing it was "Holy crap, it's Lady Gaga." So let's get this out of the way first. 

The whole Lady Gaga controversy (does it count as a controversy?) seems unavoidable. The parallels between those solo close up shots and Lady Gaga's own music video run so closely that one might forgive you for actually thinking they came from the same place. I'm not sure what was going through UFW's mind when they created it, but I'm sure plaigerism wasn't it. Can anyone seriously expect them to be stupid enough to do something like that and expect everyone to not notice? No. Some people may give them a hard time for their apparant foolishness, but they are a business which has been going (in one form or another) for decades. It takes a certain degree of intelligence to run a business like that, and that certainly wouldn't be on par with the intelligence required. 

Anyway, that aside, the PV turned out to be pretty decent. The dance shot and story parts of the PV proved to be interesting, with sexy outfits all round - especially Maasa. There was a brief debate (or rather an exchange of views) on the dance shot earlier in #wotachat. It seems Magatsu17 didn't really like the PV because of the dance shot and his inability to see it. And I guess it sort of makes sense. They aren't very well lit, and they are all dressed in black. But it did give the dance shot an interesting vibe. And with the crazy light show going on in the background, it was like watching a rave inside TRON. I think it was also intended to contrast the close up version with the Lady Gaga wigs as it jumps from dark to light and back again.

The song itself is really catchy, though something I'd more expect from C-ute than I would from Berryz. There's a fairly decent distibution of lines for those that care about such things and each girl does a fantastic job performing it.

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Discovering Takekawa Ai

Takekawa Ai is something of a rising star in Japan. She is a singer-songwriter who has been honing her skills with, not only singing and songwriting, but piano and guitar, from a young age and is now proficient in all of them.

But at the end of 2009 she got her big break and was signed by Avex with her debut single "I WILL" hitting stores that November to both critical and popular success. Her second single, "Tooi michino sakide", hit stores in March last year, and was featured as the ending theme for the continued anime Inuyasha.

I, however, didn't discover her til later that year. At the end of July, trailers for the movie "Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata", starring Sudou Maasa, hit YouTube courtesy of BROSTATV. And it was here revealed by it's presence that Ai's song "Dreamer" would feature as the theme song for the movie, and after several weeks of searching the internet for this artist or this song, I eventually learned that it was sung by Takekawa Ai.

And a quick search on Amazon.jp revealed that "Dreamer" was the title of her new album, to be released in December.

So, come December, I searched all over for it on the usual trackers and sites, but it wasn't available anywhere. I realised that if I wanted the album, I'd have to order it. And I did want it. Mostly for her "involvement" in Maasa's movie, but I also liked what I had heard of it so far, anyway. So I bought it.

It arrived late thanks to the Christmas frenzy, but when it did finally arrive I loved it. I can't say I've ever listened to another album so compulsively for so long after it's release.

In fact, in little more than a month, she has probably shot up from an artist I only knew by name to one of my favourites. I think only Berryz has any ground over her at the moment. Of course, I don't expect that to change any time soon. Berryz are my favourites and have been for over 3 years now. It'd be very difficult for anything to seize their position, and I'd be distraught if anything did. Especially if it were a non-Idol that did it. But she has risen from that, and elevated herself, by little more than musical talent, above the mental title I had appropriated her in my head of "person who sings the theme from Maasa's movie", to "awesome artist".

That's an incredible achievement. I'm usually pretty wary of anything outside my established area, and the only other Avex artists I've ever felt that I could be a fan of was SweetS. I never did trust Avex or their shameless pursual of profit. But I can honestly say that Takekawa Ai is an Avex star which I will watch rising with great interest. I imagine "Dreamer" won't be the last CD I buy of hers.

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Berryz to resume blogging!

For much of November and December the girls in Berryz Koubou began blogging to varying degrees of activity, which I reported at the time on the Church of Maasa. But come the end of the festive season and, more importantly, the Autumn-Winter concert tour, the blogs suddenly ended. Though they did remain online, no new posts were made.

But it's been reported that, beginning around Valentine's Day, and no doubt lasting for the length of the upcomming concert tour, the blogs will return.

For the first week or so, I translated Maasa's blog as best as I could, after promising to do so for the last year or so, and reiterating that promise as recent as 3 or 4 days before the blogs were announced. But it quickly became too much for me. She typically blogs 3-4 times per day, it seems, and I was having a lot of trouble with the writing style and trying to work out exactly what was being said. So, after a build up of a lot of stress over something so trivial, I dropped the translations and focused on the Light Novel no Tanoshii Kakikata blog. I probably won't be doing any translating of blogs this time around. But I'll still read my favourite members' blogs as best I can.

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