Jpop recap: October - December

Today I will do a special post. Since I wasn't able to post that much from October to December and there are a lot of awesome songs I didn't review, I will talk about them in this one post. All of these songs deifnetely deserve a whole review, but I just don't have the time to do that. At least I get to talk a bit about them in this post. And who knows, perhaps I feel motivated to make a real review of any of these songs in the future. ^-^

10.01 French Kiss - Omoidasenai Hana

Starting with a release of the start of October is the new single of French Kiss. Many AKB sub-units are disbanding, but this group stays strong. Whilst I do think this is an awesome group, I don't care for them thaaat much. But Omoidasenai Hana is a really, really beautiful and soothing ballad. It is a bit mean to see Yukirin getting all the spotlight and solo lines, but this doesn't change the fact that this is probably my favourite French Kiss song ever. The video is also very nice, since it's all natural and mosly OUTSIDE. There are lots of flowers (-> title) and the members look geourgous. Then there's a little (love) story of a little girl and a little boy. The girl is actually played by Murashige Anna's sister, which is pretty interesting if you ask me. :D

10.08 DIVA - Discovery

Next up is another AKB sub-unit it is DIVA's last single, since they disbanded after it. This is pretty sad, since DIVA always was my favourite unit and had the awesome talented members in it. I'm really happy that Yuka returned for the last single and the album, so we could enjoy her voice once more. Well, Discovery is a pretty catchy song, though it wasn't hooked at first. Now I like it, but I don't think it's one of their best songs. The video is pretty simple, but I like how there are these doors that everyone is leaving through at the end. That's a nice symbolism for the group's end. Everyone looks of pretty cool and I also like the dance.

10.18 Nogizaka46 - Ano hi boku wa tossa ni Uso wa Tsuita

This was the Undergirls song of Nogizaka46's newest single. It's a very beautiful song and shows again that Nogizaka46 has so much quality. Center is Inoue Sayuri and she also plays the lead in the music video together with Ito Marika. The video is also very beautiful, yet sad. It shows the struggles of Marika and the friendship of her and Sayuri. The girls are really great actors and I just really love the pace of the video.

10.22 Sakura Gakuin - Heart no Chikyu

Even though I never wrote about them, I've actually already known Sakura Gakuin since around April. The Babymetal hype started and I didn't want to be mainstream, so I checked out the original idol group of the trio. :P And I was surprised to see that they are an awesome group with lovely members. I even watched a lot of shows, and started to I like this group. (I also love Babymetal, don't get me wrong^^) So now they finally released a new single and I simply love it. Heart no Chikyu kind of follows the inetersting up-beat style of SG's previous songs and is so catchy. The video is very natural (wow, the second natural one in this post) and the members are some kind of Forest girls. Some of them looks soo different, I couldn't even recognize them. xD There are also the normal SG girls doing the dance as cheerleaders and interestingly they forest girls (lead by Mao) find them in the end. I really love the video. *-*

11.05 NMB48 (Team N) - Kyusen Kotei

This is actually a B-side of Rashikunai (which I did review). In my opinion, the single had some pretty good B-sides, but this one is the most unique. I really like the retro style of the song and the video. The members all look so awesome!

11.12 Berryz Koubou - Romance wo katatte/ Towa no Uta

This is Berryz final single and I feel so bad for not reviewing this. At least I'm happy they went out with a bang and made this their highest selling single ever and also the highest H!P kids selling single (they surpassed C-ute with that). But I have to admit I wasn't really hooked on any of the songs at first. But listening to it more and more I came to like this double A-side.
Romance wo katatte is a beautiful song and has a kind of Christmas feeling to it. (especially since they are singing about a White Romance)
The video is very simple, but I like it. *-*

Towa no Uta is a bit more upbeat. I like it less than the first A-side, but it's still a good song. The video is very ineteresting and nostalgic since it shows old videos of the members. This shows me that I will miss this group, even though I wasn't always their biggest fan.

11.19 °C-ute - I miss you/ The Future

Following Berryz is yet another H!P group: °C-ute. They again released a very good single this time.
I miss you is a very interesting song. It's a ballad but the members have different parts that are overlapping. The members have very good voices, so I think this type of song really works with them, even though it's a bit confusing at first. I really liek it and it is definetely my favourite and most played song of this list here. The video is very pretty and it's nice to see it being shot in one-shot (kind of, since there are many perspectives).

The Future is the weaker song of this single, but it's still good in my opinion. It's a more typical C-ute dance song and the video also only showcases their dance moves.

12.10 Team Shachihoko - Shampoo Hat

The newest single of this group is a lot slower than their previous sings. Team Syachihoko was famous for their crazy releases, but this is a pretty normal song. I still like it and it's a nice change, showing that they are also able to be normal. xD But I really hope they will do something different for their next single again. The video is also not that interesting and I wonder why everyone is so crazy about these round things. xD

12.17 Itano Tomomi - Come Party

Lastly this is Tomochin's new single that follows the style from her album which means Gangster Tomochin is back. Honestly, this song is a big mess and silly, but it's soooo catchy. I don't even know why I love it so much and I'm probably in the minority again. I love Tomochin's voice and even her rap part is so funny. XD Tomochin is mostly partying in the video (makes sense) but I really like how she's styled as a joker. The little girls as cheerleaders are also very cute, especially that one girl is having so much fun. :D

So, this has been my post about some of my favourite songs that I didn't write about before. There are still a few songs from this year I will review (AKB, SKE, Milky) but I'm already looking forward to next year in terms of Japanese music!

I have a CRUSH on you - Itano Tomomi

On July 2nd Itano Tomomi released her first album ''S×W×A×G'' which is an acronym for Sexy, Wonder, Attitude, Give. The title song of that album is called Crush.

Oh Tomochin.. ooooh, Tomochin..

Leaving that odd title aside (everyone was freaking out about it, how could you Tomochin?), I'm pretty excited for this album. I've always liked Tomochin's solo songs the best out of all the AKB soloists, even though she wasn't my favourite member. Still, being the first member I knew, she's something special to me. BUT she already graduated and I won't connect her with AKB anymore (though all of the singles are from her time in that group, except for little). 

Now about Crush, the title song of that album. Tomochin almost always had an electro sound in her career, so I'm not surprised she keeps it that way. Though Crush seems to be influenced even more by Hip-Hop and those party songs. I kind of like the sound, it's pretty addicting. It's a bit weird at first hearing Tomochin rapping and all that stuff but it's kind of fun I would say. Adding to that there are many lines in English. It seems to me that Tomomi wants to go abroad and promote herself more to the western people. (Wow, it was announced yesterday that she will debut in America.. Wooow..) This isn't a bad thing, I'm happy for her. I guess I prefer Japanese songs, but this IS a Japanese song with a bit English, so it's okay.. And again: As I said, I LOVE Tomochin's songs. And even Crush is so damn catchy, I really like that song!!!

But now about the video:

Of course, the title is shown first.
And this is a sumemr video.. BEACH!!!!

Eyy yoooo, Gangster Hip-Hop Tomochin.

Glamorous Tomochin. She's the queen :P

Waah, that's so beautiful. Where is she? Is that an Island?

Yeay, a video full of special effects and a pouting Tomomi..

Oh, she's having fun :D

Waah, she looks so beautiful here *-*

Ey yoo, more special effects ;)

So there's a DJ at a party? It's after all a party song (kinda..)

QUEEN!

PARTY PEOPLE!!

Tomochin's eyes are so pretty..

Yeah, all the scenes are somehow repeating. But don't get me wrong, they are cool xD

Alcohol and dance..

That smile is so beautiful. And if you didn't see it before, Tomochin got her tiger tooth straightened. Her lips are still pouty and she's doing her duckface, so I don't think it's such a big change xD

Perfect goddess!!

Really like that beach place here..

And the sun is going down, such a nice moment! :)

Tomochin has the beats in her hand..

Everything goes crazy, haha xD

This looks cooool!

Cutie Tomochin..

And a badass Tomochin..

Haha, I love the contrast.. :D

Well, that was a kind of crazy video. There were mostly 5 different scenes: Tomochin as a badass rapper, Tomochin with the gold background, Tomochin at the beach with the summer dress, Tomochin in the classy dress at the cliffs and the party scenes. There are many contrasts between these scenes but they do fit the music. For example, when she raps we see her as a gangster and when she sings more normal we see her looking happy at the beach. I especially like the scenes at the cliffs. Damn, she looks so georgous there! *-*
The special effects are kind of cool, though I'm not the biggest fan of blurry videos. Well, and Tomochin of course looks beautiful in the whole video!

I would say ''Crush'' is a good title song. There are a few things that I don't like that much, but it's such a catchy song and  love Tomochin's voice.
All the new tracks are more hip-hop centered. She even has a song that is called ''Swaggalicious''. And despite the title it's such a coooool song! :3 But nothing can surpass ''Dear J''! Still my favourite single by her and I'm happy that it's the first track.. This is a great album, haha.. xD I wonder what my friends would think if they knew the title and stuff.. My sister will probably laugh xD

Bye, bye for now ;)