[Quick Review] Sakazaki Kounosuke no Momoiro Folk Mura 5th episode impressions

Sakazaki Kounosuke no Momoiro Folk Mura NEXT 「Hitotsubu no Egao de, Arigatō no Present」

(坂崎幸之助のももいろフォーク村NEXT 「一粒の笑顔で、ありがとうのプレゼント」)

Momoiro Folk Mura 5th episode

Special Guest: Akiko Kosaka

 

As the first folkmura after the Christmas special and the first one of 2015, I was curious whether they would change up the format for the show, though from results it seems that not much has changed.

What is interesting is that this month’s episode featured a lot more of Momoclo songs than usual. Whether this is because lack of time to practice or difficulties in securing copyrights of songs is anyone’s guess. It was funny however, to see netizens commenting that they finally had a setlist where they recognized most of the songs (lol)

 

Perhaps as a result, the general mood of the program was very relaxed this month, with the performances leaning more towards the “fooling around” scale of things.

It makes for some pretty funny moments, but I do hope that they revert back to covering some lesser known/old songs, since I really enjoy them trying out different things.

 

The next episode will be aired on 2/19 at the same time, with the special guest being the talented Naotaro Moriyama (森山直太朗), whom Momoclo have crossed paths with numerous times.

I will be looking forward to their cover of his signature song 「Sakura」

[Quick Thoughts] 13th single 「Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina」 marketing controversy

Disclaimer:

If it isn’t obvious by now, this site is mainly a blog, which means it is an extension of my personal views, opinions and values.

Especially for posts in [Quick Thoughts] category, I won’t hesitate to speak my mind

I am strongly opposed to the marketing scheme they implemented for this , and the following are probably the strongest criticism I’ve said since becoming a fan.

If you have differing views, enter at your own risk.

 

As with other posts, feel free to leave comments for discussion.

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[Single Reviews] 12th Single-「Moon Pride」

With the March release of Naitemo, it sure came as a surprise when it was announced that that the next single, the theme song for Sailor Moon Crystal, would be released in a mere 2 months, which is lightning fast compared to their last singles. Of course, for some it was an extremely long wait, especially when you consider that the announcement for this song came out in 2012.

Originally slated for release in 2013, it was delayed repeatedly and finally came out after 2 years.

Compared to Momoclo’s previous single, this one was different in that it was completely tied-in with Sailor Moon, with all three songs following the main theme. There’s the opening song MOON PRIDE, the ending song Gekkou, and finally a cover of an old Sailor Moon classic, Moon Revenge

Even the jackets were separated into Momoclo and Sailor Moon editions.

 

Speaking of which, Momoclo has had a long history of association with Sailor Moon…

Starting with the Sailor Moon 20th Anniversary event in France, Momoclo have cosplayed or sang Sailor Moon songs on at least 5 or 6 occasions, including sailor moon events, anime events, or their own concerts.

All things considered, both Momoclo management and Sailor Moon have extensively promoted the association and similarities between the two. Sailor Moon Crystal’s director Munehisa Sakai said he choose Momoclo because of “the similarities of their healthy, positive image which overlapped with Sailor Moon’s world.”

As for Momoclo’s side, from interviews it does appear that they watch Sailor Moon themselves.

……..though to be honest, the association between the two always amused me a little. After all, one doesn’t typically think of “Momoclo” when “Bishōjo” is brought up. (lol)

Not to mention they are nearly devoid of the romantic aspects which the anime has in spades.

 

All things considered though, the Sailor Moon tie-in definitely didn’t hurt Momoclo.

With the recent collab with KISS, the talks of Momoclo going global has become something of a rallying cry. In reality, Momoclo’s first step towards world domination(?) was probably thanks to Sailor Moon…it is an international franchise after all, with fans all over the world. I’m sure quite a sizable portion of Momoclo’s international fanbase came to know of Momoclo through this collaboration.

As an example, the MOON PRIDE PV on Youtube is one of the few Momoclo videos where there is a strong international presence.

Or consider these two short clips produced by MTV, which even have official subtitles! (as a bonus, we get to have a glimpse of Momoclo’s English….)

Momoiro Clover Z and 20 years of Sailor Moon – Segment 1
Momoiro Clover Z and 20 years of Sailor Moon – Segment 2

Shiorin telling it as it is….(lol)

 

 

12th Single-「MOON PRIDE」

I have no idea who made this design choice for Kanako….but just……no…..~_~

[Quick Reviews] Momoclo related books from Japan

I’m back from Japan!

As luck would have it, Momoclo decided to pick this week to release tons of news…..looks like I’ve got some serious catching up to do

Anyways, although I stayed in Japan for a week, I didn’t actually have much time to shop, so in the end I returned with 5 books.

 

There’s a reason I prioritize books over other products.

First of all, it provides me with material that I can share with international fans….and secondly, it makes the most sense financially.

Blu-rays are already expensive, so adding some shipping fees on top of it doesn’t bother me too much.

As for music, since I’m not a stickler for physical copies, I can just buy the MP3’s from the net.

Books on the other hand, might cost you anywhere from 50%~100% of the selling price in shipping fees…..needless to say, I’m not exactly thrilled by the prospect of paying twice the amount for the exact same thing.

 

So without further adieu, these are the 5 books I purchased:

 

[Quick Review] Sakazaki Kounosuke no Momoiro Folk Mura 4th episode impressions

Sakazaki Kounosuke no Momoiro Folk Mura NEXT 「Sakazaki Kounosuke no Momoiro Folk Christmas」

(坂崎幸之助のももいろフォーク村NEXT 「坂崎幸之助のももいろフォーククリスマス」)

Momoiro Folk Mura 4th episode

Special guests:

Takamiy / Masaru Sakurai(phone)
Iruka / Hiromi Ota / Amii Ozaki / Ray Ohara
Izumi Sakaki / MY LITTLE LOVER (akko)
Komuro Tetsuya / Nishikawa Takanori

 

This episode of Momoiro Folk Mura is a throwback to Momoclo’s 2013 Christmas special, with the huge lineup of special guests and collaborations.

They also did a few adjustments to this month’s program, extending it to 3 hours and holding the show at Fuji TV’s 1st floor lobby, allowing for a live audience.

The lucky hundred!

The show’s format didn’t change too much, except for the higher emphasis on collabs

It also seems that this month’s show had more “fan-service” than usual, with a flurry of costume changes (although sadly, this meant that many of the girl’s were off-screen for long periods of time)

 

From a certain standpoint, perhaps we can also view this as a “present” for the members themselves?

After all, being able to collab with the original singers of the songs that they covered should be something to feel proud of for any artist.

 

Personally, I enjoy these cross-generational collabs very much

It’s just so fascinating when you stop and think about it, that a group famed for being very inspirational and working hard towards a bright future, is also very keen on collaborating with artists from prior eras who are well past their prime. Sort of like looking back to your roots if you will.

 

Next month’s episode will return to the 2 hour format and air on Jan. 22!

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[Quick Reviews] Momoiro Clover Z 2014 Christmas Limited Single 「Hitotsubu no Egao de…/Chai Maxx ZERO」 First Impressions

The following are my first impressions of Momoclo’s 2014 Christmas Limited Single after 3~4 days of listening

As per my norm, the full review will come out after I finish the singles before this one.

[News] Momoiro Clover Z 13th Single「Yume no Ukiyo ni Saitemina」 PV teaser released

With yesterday’s broadcast of 「奇跡のコラボ!パワー全開!KISS&ももクロ」on NHK’s BS channel, we were also gifted around 40 seconds of the PV for Momoclo’s new song.

First impressions are…………very good!

There’s not much of the song that was revealed, but I liked the parts I heard. It seems going for more of a hard rock style which I would definitely prefer over KISS’s more popular stuff.

The actual video itself is half animation, half live-action, but the animation parts seem to be of high quality

This also means our girls get to transform into a Sentai-unit once more. 😀

I have to say this style suits them much much better than the Sailor Moon stuff.

 

There’s been much speculation that the character designer is 「Sushio」, whose other works include「KILL la KILL」and「Gurren Lagann」

Although this is just a rumor, it wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out to be true……Sushio-san is a Mononofu, and he has already done character design for Momoclo before (being the one responsible for Otome Sensou)

Dailymotion Video

[Single Reviews] 11th Single-「Naitemo Iindayo」(It’s okay to cry)

This is a translation of my previous post on my other blog, so apologies if some of the references mentioned here confuses you.

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Nearly half a year after「GOUNN」, Momoclo finally came out with a new single. Although it wasn’t quite as ridiculous as the one year wait for「GOUNN」, this sparse release schedule points towards a reevaluation from management on the strategy behind new singles. Or more bluntly, what they are trying to achieve with them.

Perhaps as an embodiment of this strategy, this single came out with tie-ins for all three songs.

The A-side was the theme song for the drama-turned-movie「Akumu-chan」, while the B-side song was the theme song for the movie 「The Great Shu Ra Ra Boom」. Even the coupling track was a specially made tune that would become the warmup song for Yankee’s pitcher「Masahiro Tanaka」

From a collaboration standpoint, this single undoubtedly hit the grounds running.

 

As if that wasn’t enough, this time the writer for their main song was none other than the esteemed 「Miyuki Nakajima」

This singer/songwriter/lyricist was undoubtedly the biggest name that Momoclo had worked with music-wise up to this point (although now surpassed by KISS)

Her involvement is virtually a guarantee for sales- she probably still ranks top 30 of all time in terms of songs sold in Japanese history.

 

With this many buffs to their single, Momoclo finally took their first ever No. 1 position on the ORICON weekly single rankings chart.

Along the way, they also snatched a record for Nakajima-san, making her the only person to have No. 1 charting singles across 5 decades (1970s to 2010s)

 

11th Single-「Naitemo Iindayo」(It’s okay to cry)

This water image was a stark contrast to the fire of 「GOUNN」, leading some to speculate an elemental theme for their new singles.

For those familiar with Momoclo, this jacket almost seems like an entirely different group XD

[Member Bio] (Purple) Reni Takagi

Takagi  Reni

高城  　 れに

たかぎ　れに

 

「Electric girl」, most commonly referred to as Reni(-chan)

 

Momoclo’s eldest member, and also arguably the very first person to join Momoclo, being part of the roster when Momoclo was still just a project on paper with not even a proper group name yet. Because of her seniority, she was also the first leader of the group, later handing the position over to Kanako in November of 2008. Although she’s the eldest member, by all means she seems more like the clueless, protecting big-sis type.

 

When you think of Reni, probably the first thing that stands out is her smile. Unlike Kanako’s contagious laugh, Reni’s smile is more of the healing type, giving a calm and relaxing feeling, and just generally cheerful.

Reni nearly always has a smile on her face

Reni with a more mature look still looks great!

But for me, I love “natural” Reni the best

She is the “clown character” of Momoclo, in no small part because of her erratic way of thinking and acting, to the point that even other members call her “weird.” If there’s ever a person on Momoclo most likely to go off the walls crazy on shows or programs, it would have to be Reni.

Another thing of note is her seemingly endless energy. Indeed, she is probably what we can describe as a “genki girl,” always yelling or jumping around. This is really noticeable in Momoclo’s 24 hour programs, where in contrast to other members who look exhausted by the next day, she is still cheerful and fooling around like usual.

I really wonder if her randomness and weirdness is her actual personality, or maybe just a persona?

Whatever the case, it seems that Reni is enjoying this role thrust upon her.

Besides this, it also seems that Reni is the chief provider of comfort among the members, being the one to reach out to the others in private life. Pretty fitting that she show signs of older sister affection considering she is the eldest. (lol)

In any case, one really cannot help but to love this always smiling girl.

[Member Bio] (Green) Momoka Ariyasu

Ariyasu 　Momoka

有安         　杏果

ありやす　　ももか

 

「Foolish little giant」, mostly refered to as Momoka

Nicknamed 「little frog」or「Dango」( a type of Japanese dumpling)

Reni’s pet name for her is 「Yassan」(short for Ariyasu-san)

 

Momoka was the latest member to the Momoclo lineup, joining on July 26th, 2009. With that said, in terms of years within the entertainment industry she is the most experienced out of all the members , starting since the super young age of 1. It is pretty easy to dig up old commercials and photo shoots with Momoka in them, and she has some super devoted fans(pre-Momoclo) that have stayed loyal throughout all these years. She is also the only one whom one can say has received proper training in the past, being a member of EXPG (affiliate institution of EXILE that specializes in dance and vocal training). Another interesting thing of note is that she is probably the only one within Momoclo that had her sights set on becoming a singer since the very start.

With hard work Momoka became a pretty forward ranked trainee of EXPG, and eventually she got a chance to tour as a backup dancer with EXILE, also making an appearance in one of their MV’s. Unfortunately, due to having a larger priority for school, she dropped out of EXPG and changed agencies to Stardust. There she was assigned to the idol group Power Age, which in a bad twist of fate, disbanded in less than 3 months after she joined (to further rain on the parade, the decision to disband was announced to Momoka on her birthday). This might have been a blessing in disguise though, as her next stop brought her into Momoclo.

With her extensive experience and professional training, Momoka’s addition made a huge impact on Momoclo. Or as Akarin put it, “it felt like we needed to step up our game.” From this point forward, Momoclo’s choreography increased in technical difficulty and intensity, gradually shaping into the Momoclo that we know today.

 

Momoka has the smallest figure out of all the members, which early on led her to be one of the two “little sister” types within Momoclo along with Shiorin. Nowadays though, Shiroin is much larger, so the only one who still looks like a little sister is Momoka. She does need to watch her figure a bit though….

Twin-tailed Momoka~

Besides this, Momoka is also famed for her selfies. To hide the fact that she has a rather large and round face, most of her selfies are taken from the same angle. This camera angle has since been coined as 「Momokakudo」(Momoka Angle)

In a way, it’s pretty impressive how she can hold the same pose in every picture…..

 

While we’re on the subject of “little sister,” this seems a pretty good point to talk about her personality.