I just like this song. A very simple melody that is strung across and repetitive throughout the whole time. What makes this PV special is that it incorporate many Gundam pop-culture aspects that I haven’t really seen done for other Gundam songs before. On the other hand, I found Tomoko Kawase to have many funny aspects done in a couple of PVs that I’ve seen from her before. This song, Ash Like Snow is the brilliant green’s 17th single according to Wiki.theppn. It is also the 2nd closing song to Gundam 00, which in my opinion is already in a need of a facelift. However, the song is very good and I think ties into the end of each episode very well. Congrats Gundam, at least all is not lost.

The video is very, very otaku-ized, with an Akira-esque motorcycle, Haro making tons of appearances in the video, the hair styles of Tommy Kawase, the sniping pandas, and the explosions in the background. Is all that excessive? Well, I think a bit of it is and as much as I can really stand the video and its overly exaggerated use of Haro and rather boring layout, I just love the song. Simply can’t get enough of it.

Tommy Kawase features two different looks in the video, well, really only one. There’s her with a red hat and her with two blue bows in her hair done in small buns. There isn’t much for wardrobe change, but that wasn’t to be expected. What really bothered me in the video was the big emptiness and expanse of space around them most of the time. It truly was a set production that is rather boring with noticeably fake effects going on.

I think that it would be better for them to have the PV redone in a more practical and less Gundam propaganda style. I love Gundam, but the attempt to fit the song with this futuristic idea in the PV was poorly done. Definitely a low budget video with not a lot of thought put into it. Maybe it was only meant for fanboys to cream their pants.

Upon reading this review, you must be wondering why I still like it. It’s rather simple, I love the song, just not the PV. Come back when the single is actually released and see my final score!

Ratings:
Visuals: 6.9
Song: 9.2
Overall Flow: 7.0
Final Rating: 7.7

Video:

The latest (at least that I know of) PV by AAA. This PV takes a Middle Eastern feel to it, although I think some of the dancing and costumes are more Indian. Perhaps a fusion of multiple cultures into one. As opposed to Red Soul, you get blue costumes. A rather simple set up inside a studio rather than on set somewhere.

The song sounds a bit resembling from many of their recent works. Most notably from Red Soul.

I do like the costumes. They are elaborate and don’t stand out like a sore thumb. This incorporation of Indian-like style, fashion, and dance, with a bit of Middle Eastern synthesized instrumentals and J-Pop definitely are complemented by the well choreographed dance in the PV. Simple, yet a grand performance.

Ratings:
Visuals: 8.2
Song: 7.9
Overall Flow: 9.0
Final Rating: 8.37

Video:

Video:

Song:
This is a pretty good song, but it doesn’t have the bite like SEVENTH HEAVEN. More in the single review.

Visuals:
This video is in black and white and only has color at the very end. The use of color at the end is for symbolism and adds an nice touch. I thought it was well well done. However, there wasn’t much going on and the black and white made the video seem a little slow. Or was it the song? Couldn’t be.

CG effects were abundant in this video and proved to be a bit over done. I felt that a little more ingenuity and better implementation could be exhibited. I think the animals could have been placed in the video slightly better, but that’s just my opinion. When they used the sketch effect, I felt that it made it unprofessional. As in, an amateur had put this video together. But the end of the music video explains the use.

Nothing much in going on as in background. Either just blue screened effects or just the white-gray backdrop. You don’t really need to know Japanese to get what is going on. That is the major reason why I like Laruku. The international children basically shows that the dream/theme is harmony. If I am wrong, someone please comment and correct this. A bit of symbolism, but this area is a tad bit overused across the music industry. However, it is good to get a message out.

Ratings:
Visuals: 8.7
Song: 8.8
Overall Flow: 9.0
Final Rating: 8.83
Try it out, you might like this song.

Video:

This PV is extremely… red and black. AAA had truly become one of my favorite groups to listen to. Although I don’t have many of their songs, their recent releases have truly made me more aware of them. I constantly keep a look out for their new singles and anticipate them. I was certainly glad to see this one pop up.

Visuals:
I really love this PV. It’s sexy and provocative. Although, I felt that it was too much like SHE no Jijitsu. The costumes and background composed of shades of red and black. In essence, it gave a mysterious outlook with the use of masks. This video, like their others that I’ve seen rarely changes scenery. Is that necessarily bad? No, so I don’t see anything wrong with this picture.

Digital effects were well done and blended well into the video. Switching between people and scenes are fast paced, but it matches the song. In a way, it gives a frantic feeling that runs at the speed of the beat. Overall good editing and splicing.

The dancing is well done and matches the song very well. Good choreography.

Song:
Fast, a little short, and catchy. Like always I’ll go more into depth in the actual song review.

Overall:
Even though it mimics SHE no Jijitsu, it is pretty good.

Ratings:
Visuals: 8.9
Song: 8.8
Overall Flow: 9.1
Final Rating: 8.93

Video:

Admittedly, it was a little hard categorizing this group as J-Rock as they have more of a feeling of a J-Pop group. But, they do have essentially a rock band, so I’ll just leave it at that. 80 PAN! is basically the reincarnation of Harenchi Punch. They are an all girl group consisting of three vocalists. One of which plays guitar, another is mainly the rapper, and the last vocalist is the lead.

Guitar: Ozora Saya
Lead Vocals: Ogasawara Tomomi
Rapper/Vocals: Okina Mako

Visuals:
Computer generated effects? Yes and plenty of it. Although some of the pauses in the video look like frame rate drop, I think it may be added in for visual effects. Then, there are the moments where the members are suspended in time with the wires in midair about them. It looks really cool and all, but their facial expressions and the way their mouths are gaping open is a little amusing.

The set is pretty simple with a white background and their emblem in the back. But hey, can’t complain because in this case, less is more.

There are some discrepancies though. The blending of when the members are suspended are too sudden and could be incorporated better. Also, lip syncing could have been done slightly better. A bit over done. I prefer them staring at the camera over looking into the distance any day because it makes the members look weird and wide eyed.

Song:
I’ll go into more depth about the song in a later review of the album, but this song sounds too similar to another song that they have under their Harenchi Punch name. I can’t name it off the top of my head, but I believe that if you have heard them before, you know what I mean.

Overall:
Some weird parts in the video and the song is too resembling to another, but I think this is passing.

Ratings:
Visuals: 7.7
Song: 7.6
Overall Flow: 8.2
Final Rating: 7.83

Video:

I honestly had forgotten that I had this PV encoded and uploaded on to the website. I’ve been listening to some AAA (Attack All Around) songs for quite some time and thought that they would be a good group to add onto the website. AAA is a seven person group, consisting of two girls and five guys.

The members include:
1. Nishijima Takahiro
2. Urata Naoya
3. Uno Misako
4. Hidaka Mitsuhiro
5. Atae Shinjiro
6. Sueyoshi Shuta
7. Ito Chiaki
8. Goto Yukari (retired June 11, 2007)

We’ll be making a more comprehensive background and review of the group in their next review.

It is noticeably a bright and sunny type of song and backdrop, hence we get the name of the song. All the members are dressed in a pretty good layer of clothing, which somehow doesn’t make much sense for a summery type of music video and song. However, they all look happy and joyful so I guess the steaming hot climate doesn’t affect them much.

What I also find a little weird is the use of three portly Japanese gentlemen in the video. They lay all in a row arm to arm and at one moment, you even see one of them putting sunscreen on the other and *smiling*. Ew. Could it be that I’m only watching this video to get a glimpse of Uno Misako? Sure seems like it.

Basically, this whole video is summertime fun and obviously hanging out with your friends. Is it a typical type of video? A tad bit, but AAA makes it look cool and fun, so let us all find three portly gentlemen and “accidentally” trip and drop our ice cream treats on their bellies. I’m sure they’d enjoy that.

Song:
Like I always say, the full review will come later.

Ratings:
Visuals: 9.0
Song: 8.5
Overal Flow: 10
Final Rating: 9.17

AAA – Sunshine PV for PSP

Video:

Visuals:
In this PV, Hyde has his gothic look dressed in black and whatnot. The whole video is set inside what looks like inside of a country home. Hyde is of course in the middle while the band is in the back rocking away wildly, but almost too wildly. It’s funny looking at the bassist throwing himself about when the song isn’t really that heavy.

The light exposure in the room is made to look a little whitewashed and bright, almost ghost like. However, elements like ghost like images of people appear and go away in the video. It definitely gives a great visual aspect to the video and makes things interesting to watch. Things on the walls of the room change positions and disappear as well. The people even do unusual things or are oddly dressed. It all matches the mood of the song though.

The entire PV flows well, it’s to be expected since it takes place in just about one area and hardly changes scenery.

Hyde truly has different tastes than L’Arc~en~Ciel, which is a good thing that sets him apart from the band. Instead of just recreating Laruku, he has identified himself as a different person and artist. In other words, he’s a separate entity from Laruku, it distinguishes him as a successful stand alone artist.

Song:
A review of this song may be available later on in an album review.

Ratings:
Visuals: 9.7
Song: 9.5
Overal Flow: 10
Final Rating: 9.73
Good song, good video. What are you waiting for and watch it!

Video:

Seventh Heaven release date: May 30, 2007

L’Arc~en~Ciel always does remarkable PVs and Seventh Heaven is no different from the rest. It is visually appealing and definitely uses colors and images to catch the attention of the audience. It may look weird and freaky, but is it enjoyable? Heck yeah.

Song:
The song itself is incredibly catchy and stands with their earlier work as an experimental aspect of their sound. Hyde still uses a lower register for his singing, but none the less it fits the song and isn’t straining to listen to. The instrumentals are really good and is different than most of the songs that we’ve lately been listening to from SMILE and AWAKE. However, this new sound is clearly a clear image of the uniqueness of L’Arc~en~Ciel. More about the musical aspect of the song will be reviewed later on when the actual single is released.

Visuals:
Visually, the band still has its black persona. It is noticeable that each person has their own sense of style. Hyde has the over the top dressed-up rock star style while Tetsu wears more punkish style. Ken then is wearing a usual casual-cool suit and Yukihiro in the back is wearing more of a gothic-punk clothing. This is clearly a blend of solo appeal from their days apart, but it all molds together for one picture of Laruku.

The set is composed of a mulitcolored room with two speakers on the walls. They use white, red, green, and yellow on the set. All of these contrasting colors sends your focusing attention toward the band. I think the most impressive part of the video is the costumes for the dancers. They have the same colors as the area of the room that they are in, so at first your don’t notice them, but when you see them it is a sort of surprise. Just looking at the dancers gives a weird look to the video.

Everything in the video aims to focus all of the attention to the band. The dancers do distract at times, although, it could just be that I’m just to focused on how weird they look. Amazingly enough, the costumes almost blend the dancers into the background, which is a nice visual effect.

All in all, the video was well done. It was simple and had few computer generated special effects. It is nice, simple, fun, and also ingenius.

Ratings:
Visuals: 10
Song: 9.6
Overall Flow: 10
Final Rating: 9.87
Watch it!

Video:

Review:
The main difference between this PV and most of the H!P videos I’ve recently been seeing is the use of guys in the video, scenery, and in general good editting.

The first thing that I noticed was the very nice visual effects in the beginning and Younha’s cute, pretty face. I really liked her clothing in the video which shows a more genuine person rather than a dolled up and costumed performer. Though I’m not familiar with K-Pop, I thought the slight “attitude” displayed was a little amusing, but it made her look good none the less. Her performance in the video was very good and gave the PV some personality. The people that put it together really had taste and knew what they were doing.

The color scemes and the places they used really tied the whole video together. I liked the use of the pink and white, which makes the video fresh and fitting with the times. This PV did switch between scenes rather quickly, but it did not lose it’s flow.

I really enjoyed the video and recommend anyone to watch it. Younha is a very good performer. I would comment on the song itself, but that will be in the album review.

On a side note: I from what I read, I believe that this is her first kiss ever in this video.

EDIT:
I forgot to post the ratings.
Visuals: 10
Song: 9.2
Overall Flow: 9.9
Final Rating: 9.7
A very good video.

“Thanks!” was released by GAM, or Great Aya and Miki. It has a pop-Caribbean sound without congas but with guitar. An odd mix up and equally makes the song sound weird. Though different in sound, the song mostly resembles most other H!P acts’ own singles. Miki Fujimoto’s vocals also overpower Aya’s, which leaves the question whether it was intentional or not.

The B side, “Shinkirou Romance”, was much better in my opinion. It was a rocklike-pop ballad. Somehow it resembles the ending theme “The Real Folk Blues” from Cowboy Bebop. Again, Miki’s voice overpowers Aya’s, but Miki does seem to have a much powerful voice.

It is a rather disappointing release from such a great concept of a group. Hopefully there will be better releases in the future if they choose to continue. Overall, the B side makes up for “Thanks!”.

Music: 6.3
Vocals: 7.2
PV: 7.0
Average score out of 10: 6.8. It’s a sort of disappointment with such a great set up.

Video: