Berryz Koubou's 6th Album "6th Osakebi"

So the new Berryz album is here. What do I think of it? Well. Let's take a look, shall we?

First up, let's take a peek at the covers to the right. Regular being the top one, and Limited the bottom. The costumes are wonderfully bright and colourful. It's these colourful covers that make Berryz stick out so much next to Morning Musume and C-ute whose covers are usually pretty dark. I do like those dark covers, they look great. But they aren't eyecatching enough. Are these covers eyecatching? Pastel colours and cute girls? I suppose they could have done worse. In fact, this is one of those CDs where I find that I actually prefer the regular edition's cover. Which is a shame, because I never buy the regular. I always go for the limited edition where possible. Something about it being limited edition draws me to it. I just like the idea that in 10 years I'll have a copy and these will be difficult to find. Or they will in my mind anyway.

Is it just me, though, or does UFA insist on giving the girls those god-awful bows at every opportunity. They were something of a signiture of Tsuji Nozomi's before, and now they keep giving them out to everyone. Chinami and Miyabi this time around. Does anyone actually like those? Answers on a postcard.

Anyway, onto the music!

Otakebi Boy WAO! / Berryz Koubou

First song on the album just happens to be the first song from the new single. The best word to describe this song is "POWER". Everything about it reflects this theme. The singing, the guitars, the PV. Everyone sings at a low register, the one everyone seems to be talking about is Risako, who (and I hate to let this word become a cliché) sings powerfully throughout. In fact, the song reminds me alot of Morning Musume Otome-gumi. The songs are very different, but the feel of the songs are not too dissimiliar. But here, even Momoko manages to hit the low notes, which is no small feat, considering her normal voice. And the PV is simply epic. It has everything. Pink camoflauge, explosions, fire and lightning, Maasa roundhouse kicking AKB48's Atsuko Maeda (though I may have made one of those up). An epic video. An epic song. An epic start to an epic single and album.

Rival / Berryz Koubou

Rival. I'm in the minority with this one. It's a good song. But I'm from the small group who thought it wasn't as good as it's partner. More on that later though. This song, despite me preferring the other one, is still really good. The rock-ey guitar riffs and vocals make this one an incredibly catchy song. The PV is fine. But overall, the song is one of the more forgettable ones.

Ryuusei Boy / Berryz Koubou

This was an instant favourite. More recently Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama has become my preference from that single, but it took longer for Danna-sama to grow on me. I liked this one from first listen. Only trouble was that everyone else was talking about this single for 2 months before I finally got to hear it. I never listen to previews. I generally wait for the PVs to come out before giving singles a listen. But this time I had opted to save it. I felt it was a show of my own dedication as a fan to not only buy it without listening to it (which I've done a few times before), but to not listen to it until I had my copy and could stick it in my CD player. But due to extreme delays with the delivery (4 weeks after it shipped and I still hadn't gotten it) I didn't get to hear it til much later than the rest of the world. I picked a fine time to challenge myself. But it became like Lent or something. I managed to resist the urge to listen to it "early", which was at some points unbearable, and heard the single and loved it when it finally arrived. The dance shot version of the PV, which was included in my LE, looked so awesome that it tipped the scales and this became a new favourite song of mine. The dance, the costumes, the special effects. The catchy vocals. Every time I hear it I feel the need to get up and dance and sing along with it. 

Ai ni wa Ai desho / Momoko & Miyabi

Wonderful rock song. Miyabi and Momoko have had lots of practice at this kind of music with Buono! and I can't wait to see how this song looks in concert. I can already imagine some of the dance in my head. But I really want to see if it's anything like how I imagine. While their characters aren't quite as compatible, Momoko and Miyabi have voices that compliment eachother rather well as well as the guitar solos. In short, it's the perfect song for these two, and wouldn't have been anywhere near as good had it been given to anyone else.

Seishun Bus Guide / Berryz Koubou

This is the song I liked so much better than Rival. I've actually already blogged about this one before, so I'll keep this short. But the song was catchy. The costumes were awesome. And most importantly, I loved the video. I've heard alot of people claim that it was awful. But I don't think they could be more wrong. The video had a cute bus guide and the Berryz girls pretending to be schoolboys fawning over her? The whole thing was hillarious. Not to mention the fact that the bus somehow managed to achieve warp speed. 

Kimi no Tomodachi / Berryz Koubou

The first ballad of the album. It's a nice song. Risako seems to take point this time. What I find really interesting about this song is that during the chorus parts it kind of speeds up. The drum becomes more prominent and the singing speeds up, which then leads into a monologue by Risako. Also, is it just me, or has friendship been a reccuring theme recently? Ever since Dakishimete, I think.

Ground Demo Rouka Demo Medatsu Kimi / Maasa & Yurina

I must admit here, I'm inclined to love this song even before I hear it. Maasa and Yurina happen to be my two favourite Hello!Project members, and we haven't had the two of them singing together like this since Omoitattara Kichidesse! which also featured Chinami. This song lives up to expectations. It's split into two halves, where Yurina takes point at the start, and then halfway through it switches to Maasa. The two girls are a natural choice to put together. Maasa and Yurina are best friends, and they both have similiarly low voices. I love seeing them together, I love hearing them together. Admitadly, I doubt it will replace Omoitattara Kichidesse! as one of my top songs, but it's not trailing too far behind. It's just that that song was catchier and slightly funner.

Tomodachi wa Tomodachi Nanda / Berryz Koubou

Here we reach the epitomé of this "tomadachi" theme. The song itself isn't at all dissimiliar to Rival. It makes use of the same kind of rhythmic singing. Of course, this song is better than Rival. The song is catchier, the mere mention of the name causes me to start singing the chorus, and the lines are more even. All of the girls get a chance to sing a solo "section". The video reminds me somewhat of Buono!'s PVs like Kiss!Kiss!Kiss! and Take it Easy!. There's something of a plot to it. All of the girls are sitting having fun, but gradually all of them leave to do other things and Momoko is left on her own. But just as the loneliness kicks in, friendship wins out and everyone returns. Perhaps the most mainstream song Berryz have released ever. It combines a fresh, original PV with a great tune.

Kibou no Yoru / Berryz Koubou

Our second ballad. This one is a far more traditional ballad than Kimi no Tomodachi. It's somwhat akin to Sonosubete no Ai ni, and in my opinion, is a much more mainstream ballad. I doubt it'd sell very well as a single A-side. But as a song it's excellent, and would make an excellent VN theme. One of my favourites. It's not depressing, but a slow and uplifting love song. Once again, I feel like Risako takes point in this, but she's always been the best ballad singer in Berryz. If, like me, you are a fan of ballads I imagine you will love it. If not, I hope you give it a listen and find something to enjoy in it, because it's a wonderful track.

Dakishimete Dakishimete / Berryz Koubou

I believe this one took me slightly longer to get to really like than some of the other songs. I wasn't really sure about the dance music or the crazy techno video for it - in fact the video was my main problem at first. I didn't really like Maasa's costume (though Captain's was awesome), and this was around the time that Chinami started wearing her makeup alot thicker, which I still don't really like. But over time I've kind of accepted it as one of the better Berryz singles. Once you've heard it a few times, and tried to dance along, you quickly forget about whatever you didn't like about it and simply enjoy it. It's not exactly a musical masterpiece, but that's the key - it's one of the most fun songs on the album to listen to.

Yakimochi wo kudasai! / Saki, Chinami & Risako

This song starts off slightly boring, but by about halfway through you really start to enjoy it. It's kind of fun, and the tempo is just about right. Wonderful performances from all of the girls involved. And I am noticing that Captain gets her fair share of lines in this song, a feature that is unfortunately missing in most singles these days. Despite being the leader and the oldest (not to mention the best dancer), Captain is probably the most over-looked member of Berryz. She never really developed into a character the same way that the other girls did. So it's always great to hear her sing. I find myself clapping along the whole way through.

Watashi no Mirai no Danna-sama / Berryz Koubou

Even though I originally preferred Ryuusei Boy, it wasn't long before this maturer, sexier song and it's video soon won me over. I'm not sure what it was about it. The PV is decent, and formulaic at best. It's like a Berryz single trying to be a Morning Musume single. And it's not really something that compells you to get up and dance along. It's as danceable as a ballad, without actually being a ballad. But despite it's shortcommings, I can't bring myself to hate it. The costumes, the sexy singing by Risako et al... There's nothing really to hate is there? Maybe it's just because songs like this are rare with Berryz. We've come to expect this sort of thing from Morning Musume, so it's become slightly more dull. But Berryz typically do genki songs, which makes this mature one something of a refresher. It proves to us that Berryz are capable of doing different styles when they need to.

So, my final verdict?

Due to the number of double A-sides released lately (mostly due to the fact that they are performing for an anime now, and they have the money to make 2 PVs) the amount of original content in this album has suffered. 7/12 songs we already own. That leaves us with 5 new tracks. The old tracks are great and the new tracks are decent enough, for the most part, that it makes it worth the buy, assuming you are a Berryz fan. If you only have a passing interest in Berryz or prefer C-ute or Morning Musume, I can't see you buying this album. Or perhaps you'll buy this album so you don't have to buy the singles. Unlike 5(FIVE) which had something for everyone, this album falls a little short of the standard set by the previous album. But is worth a listen anyway.

Buy it now on YesAsia
Limited Edition | Regular Edition

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Join the Campaign! Get S/mileage debut!

Tsunku has set forth a rather interesting challange for S/mileage. If they can prove that they have a fanbase worthy of it, they will get their major debut.

Perhaps the most famous instance of such a challenge among wota is when Tsunku offered to give the five runners up of the ASAYAN contest to find a new singer for SharanQ a debut as a group, but under the condition that they sell 50,000 copies of their demo single in only 5 days. The group became Morning Musume after achieving the amazing feat in 4 days, and went on to become the highest selling all-female Japanese pop group of all time.

But this time, we are treated to an ultimatum of a totally new kind.

Tsunku says that if they can get 10,000 photos of fans smiling from around the world in the next month, they will get their first single. This means that you, the fans, can once again have an incredible influence over the fate of these four eggs that you wouldn't otherwise have. Your inaction could, in theory, result in Maeda Yuuka, Fukuda Kanon, Wada Ayaka and Ogawa Saki being refused that debut that we all know they deserve.

On the other hand, all it takes is to fill in a short form, stating your email address, age and sex, and uploading a photo of you to be part of the campaign that will allow these eggs to hatch. 

http://form.s-mileage.jp/form

No risk, high return.

At least for the fans.

The one thing that interests me about it is that, from the perspective of the Agency, there is no real benefit to this kind of challenge. At least not in terms of money. They may get 10,000 photos, but it's not a guarentee that those people will actually buy the single. With Morning Musume's challenge 13 years ago, there was an exchange of money. UFA were making profits - although with 50k copies printed it would have been a huge loss if they only managed to sell a few. Low risk, high return. But here, there is no risk but no guarenteed return.

So, if it's not money UFA are after.... What is it?

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Berryz Kobo Live in Bangkok

 

Well, I'm sure many of us are aware now that Berryz are playing a concert in Thailand. Bangkok, to be more precise. This, I'm sure, is great news for many of us. Great news for Berryz too. It makes the second time they have performed overseas. First Korea and now Thailand, they are well on their way to becoming the next internationaly-recognised H!P group, it seems. Or at least within Asia, anyhow. That fact evidenced by the fact that they are slated to perform at a 10,000-seating sports stadium.

As such, it would be wonderful to attend this historic concert. To support Berryz in their expansion into east Asia. And of course, to finally see Berryz live for the first time.

But this puts me in a bit of a predicament. A month before the concert I'm set to arrive in London for the 2010 Eurowota meet. However, that will prove so expensive that there's no way I'd be able to go to both. In fact, I'm not sure if I can really afford to go to London for the meet as I had set my goals on reaching Japan for a month around October. And I'm not sure if I can afford Japan after Eurowota, I definately can't afford it if I go to Thailand.

Thus, my predicament. On the Eurowota hand I get to see and meet some familiar faces from this year's meet again, as well as new faces. To this day I still think of the Eurowota 2009 meet in Stockholm as the best weekend of my life. So perhaps you understand why I want to go again. But by going to Thailand I'd get to see Berryz live, support them during their expansion and, as Cotton Cloth pointed out to me, get to see Maasa live! And then there's Japan... Well, that kind of speaks for itself. To live in Japan for a month, see concerts, experience the Japanese way of living, and hopefully learn to be a bit more independant in the process.

Then of course there is the travel itself. I love London, I've only been there a couple times in my life and it's a wonderful city. But it's still a very British way of life. By going to Thailand or Japan, I'd have the chance to see sights I've never seen before and experience a whole new culture first-hand.

Looks like I've got a bit of thinking to do, and alot of trying to balance how much money I have.

I'm trully torn.

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A Fan's Worthiness: Proving Our Worth

So I ended the last entry by talking about the different factors which come into play when we pick our favourite idols and how a member's popularity might influence that decision in order to make you blend into, or stand out from the crowd.

I don't think most people go to extreme lengths to stand out and be different. If you stand too far from the crowd you are alone and scream "Hey, look at me! I'm different!". An old Japanese proverb about society goes something like the nail that sticks out gets hammered in. And yet we go to great lengths in order to stand out, ironically enough, I believe, in order to fit in.

Consider that an idol fan has two goals in mind. The primary goal is, naturally, to support the idol by buying their products. Without this simple instinct to give to their idol, the fan is useless. This can clearly be observed in human history in the form of religion and the inherit need of it's followers to give gifts to the being, object or entity that they have come to worship as a god. Many cultures felt that the need to appease their gods by means of animal or human sacrifice, or gifts of wine, food or money. Social norms have changed and animal and human sacrifice is now frowned upon by many of today's cultures and faiths (although still present in certain beliefs) and the need of the people to sacrifice to their gods adapted with the times. Now many Churches, such as in Catholicism, accept gifts to their god in the form of money donations. And now this spiritual desire to give has been passed on into fandom at large - although in the case of this blog we'll continue to focus on idol fandom in particular.

The very word "idol" refers to an image. A picture, or a statue, in ancient times. An indeed, many peoples constructed these idols in the image of their gods in order to have a physical representation of that which they worship. It's no coincidence that the name later applied to the girls we, ourselves, worship. In earlier days of the industry the idols were presented with perfect images. Girls who could do no wrong. They were also presented with more middle-class characters. Beautiful, intelligent, entertaining. These were the perfect women. In recent years that tone has lowered, however, in an attempt to bring them closer to their fans. Noteable is the fact that ignorance and unintelligence is now found to be cute and endearing in idols, something which we can laugh at. However, during the 60s an idol with such an image wouldn't have been allowed, similiar to the way the BBC used to only employ proper-spoken, seemingly intelligent people in order to have a respectable image.

And so we worship these girls, and just as religious followers we feel compelled to give those monetary donations to our gods.

Why? I believe it has something to do with the idea that, in order to feel worthy of blessing and praise from our god, we give unto our god such sacrifices. And as such we have our secondary goal as fans, to prove that we are worthy. Although it's very possible that the primary and secondary goals are interchangable, as they are both tied to one another. We support our idols to prove our worth, and we prove our worth by supporting the idols.

Of course, proving our worth to the idols isn't the only thing we have in mind, but also proving ourselves and, ultimately, showing off to our peers. That is why all those "Post your H!P Collection" threads on various forums prove to be so popular. I, myself, post in Musume-Central's variation of the "Show off your latest purchase" thread whenever I can. I'm sure most of us do something of the sort. This isn't so much about ego, as it is about the desire for peer-approval. The idea is to be accepted. We think that, by showing off how loyal and "pious" we are, we can become accepted as worthy fans by many people. ie, become popular, to put it on blunt terms.

But why is that feeling of acceptance so important to us? Well, to answer that question we must move on from the religious metaphor and context and into Darwinist theory.

In nature evolution is fueled by the idea that the strongest will survive, and the weak will die. This applies not only to the idea that a weaker species will be killed off by a stronger, but also on a more individual level. When the males and females mate, usually males will compete for their partner in whatever way they have evolved to, wether that be a show of beauty or of strength. Either way, the best will procreate and their genetic makeup will continue, and the weaker won't. Darwinism could therefore be taken to argue that the meaning of live is just that. Procreation, passing of genes, and continuation of the species. And, just as the animal kingdom does, humans must "compete" for that right to procreate. Although human competition is far more complex and more depends on the taste and "type" of each individual as to what they regard the ideal partner to be. However, some of the more agreed upon themes are that of wealth and power as a way for members of the same sex to compete for the best of the opposite.

And so, accumulation of wealth and property proving to be a powerful tool for gaining another's approval. It could be argued that the accumulation of an impressive collection of, in this case, H!P merchandise and the subsequent show off of it is a flag and a way to prove that you are a worthy mate. Or a friend. Someone to be respected. Of course, taking it from a Darwin point of view is over simplifying the matter, there are many reasons why one builds a collection and I'm sure that the hopes of meeting and seducing members of the opposite sex (or same sex if that's more you) isn't one of the reasons at all. I'm just putting it forward as a possible explanation as to why we have evolved to feel the need to show our collection off.

One thing is certain however, by showing off the items we own to people who would be interested, we are ultimately trying to impress them to get their approval. That fits with the above Darwin theory.

This has been my two-part analysis on the behaviour of fans and how we try to prove ourselves as fans. Thank you for taking time out to read this. Any thoughts or opinions? Please drop me a comment. I'd be glad to hear your own theories and ideas on the topic.

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A Fan's Worthiness: Which Idol?

An interesting topic, to be sure. And something that all fans aspire to be - regardless of the hobby. Just as sports fans will try to prove their worth and show off their knowledge about their chosen team, we wota love a chance to prove just how well versed we are in the charms of our idols and their groups. So well documented, in fact, are the lives of these girls that it's hard not to pick up little bits of information of their lives and their personalities. Of their favourite foods and bands. Of their little quirks and recurring jokes. Gaining a new idol is like buying a brand new product, complete with all it's features and faults - not just for the fans, but for the agencies who sell these products too.

And so, continuing our product analogy in the form of, say, electronics, just how do we pick out a model that suits us from the huge product range? Hello!Project alone have an impressive arsenal of what must be over 50 idols, both retired and current. Then you take the other major organisations, such as that of AKB48 and Johnny's Entertainment, each with incredible aresenals of their own. But this is only a small portion of the market. There are plenty of smaller agencies, idols and such. Since the industry began forming in the 60s, there have been thousands of bright, young idols for fans to choose from. And, unlike regular celebrities who are often locked into a specific industry such as cinema or music, idols are much more versatile in their uses. They can do movies and dramas, animation, music, gravure modelling, television and, in some cases, adult video - each industry bringing in millions each year. For this reason I put it to you that the Japanese Idol industry is, itself, a multi-billion dollar industry in and of itself - and is in fact one of the largest in the world.

It is, however, extremely dependent on the other entertainment industries in Japan. An Idol can still exist with no ties to the music industry, but this industry itself only provides the Idols. Without the others, such as music and film, an idol industry could not exist. Luckily for us, it's existence is an incredibly stable one, and seems to be holding up in the global recession better than most - meaning our idols are safe... at least until no longer profitable.

And so, back to the topic at hand, in such a broad market how do we choose the product we want?

Well this depends entirely on who the 'customer' is, and perhaps just how new to the market they are. For example, a person who doesn't understand photography or the product market for SLR cameras might base their choice on something like resolution - in terms of megapixels. While a decent megapixel count is certainly important for a camera, it's the whole package which is important. Something you can't really put a number on. In much the same way, a newcommer to the Idol industry who, for the sake of arguement, discovered Morning Musume through their music. They are much more likely to base their initial choice of favourite member based on who can sing and whose voice they prefer. Or maybe even just based on looks.

And so, by applying the rules of the music industry alone to the group, you find that deciding on a favourite member is rather easy. You pick the one you think looks and sounds prettiest.

However. If you, like me, have been a fan for a while and have an understanding of the industry, you'll note that it isn't quite as easy as that. In this industry you can't base your choice solely on vocal talent or looks, but also on character, likeability, acting ability, whatever. Most importantly, if you can't understand and relate to your idol then you can't develop that unique wota-idol empathatic bond that is so vital to survival in the world of Idoling, for both the Idol and the fan.

Some people even take an idol's popularity into account. Choosing popular members in order to insure that they have lots of other fans to discuss even the most trivial bits of information about their idol with.  Or some might choose idols who, in their mind, are less popular in an attempt to stand out from the crowd and support an idol that they feel deserves more. It's alot easier to stand out and prove yourself as a fan when there are less people around you to drown out your voice, right?

And that brings me on to the next entry: Proving Ourselves.

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