TWIJ…#41
14 November 2007
There’s not much Jpop out this week actually, and Mizuki Nana has taken up most of my time. Though I’m constantly being reminded that Christmas is just ’round the corner with a bunch of bad Japanese Xmas songs…..
Last week’s reviews’ chart placings
Singles
01.weeeek. NEWS (262,715)
02.Aoku Yasashiku. Kobukuro (111,500)
03.LAST ANGEL. Koda Kumi (57,310)
05.Pocket. Otsuka Ai (39,236)
06.After Dark. ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION (38,624)
07.Sakura Addiction. Hibari Kyoya vs Rokudo Mukuro (37,411)
10.Beautiful Life. w-inds. (25,078)
12.SPEED KING. RIP SLYME (14,684)
14.Sousei no Aquarion. Terashima Takuma, Kakazu Yumi, Kobayashi Sanae (13,295)
17.NEOPHILIA. Hirano Aya (10,429)
26.Yume o Chikatta Ki no Shita de. Harafumi (5,232)
30.Wakamono no Subete. Fujifabric (4,635)
48.Cutie Honey. Wild 3-nin Musume (2,401)
62.Mighty Body. AA-CHINO (1,922)
158.Clubhouse Sandwich. Yuumao (489)
Albums
02.Kanashimi nante nan no Yaku ni mo Tatanai to Omotteita. Makihara Noriyuki (47,393)
24.Oyasumi Monster. GOING UNDER GROUND (7,220)
25.Lost In Time. AKINO from bless4 (7,197)
49.Metanoia. Yousei Teikoku (3,650)
This must be one of the few times this year that the all of the top 10 singles passed the 20k mark. Though Koda and Otsuka both bombed badly. Where the hell did those 37,411 people who bought Sakura Addiction come from???
In the end NEOPHILIA didn’t do too badly - there was no tie-up, lack of promotion, an average song, lots of competition, the ‘LOVE★GUN was shit’ effect etc etc, lots of things to blame but hey, 10.4k isn’t a bad number. Nevertheless MonSTAR has a decent shot at the top 5 next time out, there’s only Kuwata Keisuke, Hitoto Yo, abingdon boys school & Ayase Haruka to contend with ^^; Though Katekyo Hitman Reborn will have another go at derailing her efforts with the Tsuna + Reborn character CDs out on the same day (12th December).
Singles
Hurry Xmas. L’arc~en~ciel
Tis the season of bad Christmas songs…. I’m not sure what possessed Laruku to produce a festive-themed song, but I sure don’t like it. The only Xmas songs I like are those in the church hymn book (bar Silent Night, which is boring as hell), and preferrably in English.
Watch: Hurry Xmas PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.02 (⇔ No.02)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Hito. GReeeeN
They’ll probably find it hard to live up to the success of Aiuta, and they certainly won’t if they produce something like Hito. A very bland, very boring song that’s really a poor rehash of Aiuta - not a great debut at No.07 either. I kinda failed to notice that they were the ones who wrote NEWS’ appalling weeeek and the fact that it’s doing better than Hito in the charts is amusing.
Watch: Hito PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.07 (⇔ No.07)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Wana. THE BACK HORN
I was actually encouraged after hearing the first minute or so of Wana. That was until the chorus hit and I was like…. bleargh. Anyway, they’ve flushed that little bit of credibility they had left down the toilet by doing a Gundam theme. Mizubasho showcases exactly what I’ve hated about TBH in the last 3 years or so, favouring Snow Patrol/Coldplay-like stadium rock over the hard, loud rock that brought them much critical acclaim but little success in the early years. It isn’t a total washout though, the live version of Serenade is as awesome as it is on record; and Mafuyu no Hikari is proof that they can combine loud guitars and catchy choruses to good effect. They just don’t do it often enough.
Watch: Wana PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.06 (⇔ No.06)
Rating: 
Sekai wa Mawaru to iu Keredo. GARNET CROW
This must be the millionth Conan-related single by GARNET CROW, or so it feels anyway. Sekai wa etc etc is surprisingly good - much more memorable than their last few feeble efforts…. I can’t even remember the name of their previous single. This one at least has a proper melody and a lovely chorus. The best I’ve heard from them for a while though their PVs are still god-awfully boring, somebody needs to buy vocalist Nakamura Yuri a smile.
Watch: Sekai wa Mawaru to iu Keredo PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.10 (⇔ No.10)
Rating: 
Ukiyo CROSSING. UVERworld
If you look up ‘cheesy’ in the dictionary, you’ll probably see a picture of UVERworld next to it. Ukiyo Crossing is marginally better than the annoying Shaka Beach but I find their brand of pop/rap hard to stomach no matter how hard I try. The fact that I tend to lump UVERworld into my iPod playlists with people like KAT-TUN and Morning Musume shows you what I think of them.
Watch: Ukiyo CROSSING PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.04 (↑ No.03)
Rating:
Boku no Koto o Shitte. Chara
Not a very good time to be Chara, with plummeting sales and general lack of interest from the public. I quite like Boku no Koto o Shitte myself, though she loses points for putting out not 1 but 2 friggin’ Christmas songs as B-sides. Including a Japanese version of Silent Night zzzzzzz.
Watch: Boku no Koto o Shitte PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.28 (↓ No.35)
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Lumica. Momoi Halko
I profess to not liking Momoi much but of course, I certainly don’t mind her producing a bunch of songs as good as this (and High Energy). Alas, I have been unable to catch more of the ridiculous sentai dolls ‘comedy’ Kawaii! JeNny so I’ll have to make do with listening to the theme songs.
Watch: Lumica PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.49 (> Top 50)
Rating:
High Energy. Momoi Halko & Nogawa Sakura
Hell, I love High Energy - much more than Lumica in fact. Nogawa and Momoi are on rather friendly terms these days, what with their rivalries in both Seto no Hanayome and Kawaii! JeNny. It’s a really fun song and probably my pick of all the singles out this week.
First day Oricon chart placing: > Top 50
Rating: ★★★★☆
Albums
φ. KinKi Kids
Early leak for a Johnny’s release again. KinKi Kids are the pick of the JE bunch for me as they can actually sing and have some decent songs in their back catalogue. They’ve always a singles ‘band’ to me though, their last few albums were pretty patchy affairs. As is the case with most boybands really - and after a few playtests φ hasn’t done much to improve that record.
Namida, Hitohira is easily the best song on the album, though the Agematsu Noriyasu composed/arranged Kaze no Iro comes a close second. Other highlights are few and far between. snapshot, the EDGE of the WORD and Giniro Ango are catchy enough without being memorable, while there are some shockers like the Lose Control, a woeful attempt at American hip-hop and Yonekura Toshihiro’s since 1997; a mish-mash of r ‘n’b, bossa nova and god knows what else - it just sounds awful. I wouldn’t really give φ more than a few spins before shoving it into a dark corner of my HD - hopefully the next in their series of alphabet albums (J is up next) is better than this.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.01 (⇔ No.01)
Rating:
GREAT ACTIVITY. Mizuki Nana
Read ultra long piece here.
Watch: Orchestral Fantasia PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.02 (⇔No.02)
Termination. 9mm Parabellum Bullet
Finally, after a clutch of EPs and singles comes 9mmPB’s first full-length album. They’re probably not as consistent as noise-rockers Rin Toshite Shigure but they do have the ability to crank out great songs like Heart-Shaped Gear and the title track. The instrumentation is solid as always, tight and compact but they seriously need a new vocalist, Sugawara is awful. Now that they’re in the mainstream, I wonder how long will it be before they end up like THE BACK HORN, doing anime songs. I’ll just enjoy the good times while it lasts.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.04 (↓ No.07)
Rating: ★★★★☆
Utajikara~CORNERSTONES 4~. Sato Chikuzen
I’ve never really been fond of Sato’s first three COVERSTONES albums, which were mostly covers of 70s tunes from the likes of Stevie Wonder, Eagles and Eric Clapton. Nothing to do with his English, which is perfectly good but it was his ability to turn cheesy classics like Hard To Say I’m Sorry, Last Christmas and Desperado into the world’s most boring soul songs. This time however, Sato’s chosen an all Japanese tracklist but he still manages to mangle Spitz’ Robinson, Murashita Kozo’s Hatsukoi and Southern All Stars’ Manatsu no Kajitsu. I really like a lot of the originals and I’m not keen to hear them being beaten to a pulp and put through a shredder…. It’s not all bad, his version of Fukuyama Masaharu’s Sakurazaka is infinitely more exciting and the update of Banban’s 「Ichigo Hakusho」o Mou Ichido is pretty pleasant too. That said, Sato’s definitely better off sticking to doing original material as his INDIGO album is one of the best pop releases of 2007.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.06 (↑ No.05)
Rating: