My Fangirling Outlet

Beautiful World Review

So this album was released... well technically it was only released on Wednesday (July 6, 2011) but somehow fangirls always manage to get the disk early (unless you happened to be a Canadian - stupid Canada post *shakes indignant fist*). Anyway. So. I didn't buy the album because my parents have some thing against ordering albums from halfway across the world but I downloaded it, been listening to it ... on repeat ... for about a week now (^^;;) and yeah. So here's my review.

First off - I barely listened to any radio rips (Negai, Morning light, a bit of Hung up on and Jyanakute... and I think that was it?) but I was looking forward to this album a lot. If you don't remember when 僕の見ている風景 came out my initial reaction was "did not like" and whaddayaknow - turned into my most favourite album of theirs to date. Beautiful World on the other hand I liked pretty much right of the bat - but first I'll do a song-by-song run down (excluding singles because.... well they were released already - and for another reason I'll talk about later).

1. Rock This: I had vaguely heard about this song and everyone said they loved it. When I heard the opening I did not understand how this song could be counted as "rock" at all and then the actual song started. It's okay. It reminds me of Cry For You from their TIME album. I like rock, admittingly it does sound kind of cool but I never like any boyband doing rock songs. I don't know why. Boybands and "rock" never really meshed well for me. As for performance? I imagien flames. Lots and lots of flames :) And I like fire.  So pretty much I don't "like" it but if I'm in the right mood I could find myself going out of my way to listen to this song.

2. まだ見ぬ世界へ: Oh. I forgot I already talked about this song when the PV came out. As I said, love the song - Sho's rap I've gotten used to but sometimes it still bugs me.

4. Always: I really like how they sing this song. As in - my reaction to this song is opposite to Rock you in where I liked the tune but didn't really like how they sang it. Here the tune is kind of... standard but I love how they sing the song. The chorus is also pretty catchy and cool, but my most favourite part is the opening of the song where they all have their solo lines. I imagine them singing one at a time, standing still and then when the chorus hits - *bam* they just start dancing (this is all on the moving stage). And then rinse and repeat as the song goes on. It wouldn't be a very dance heavy song but I can imagine a bit of dancing, especially during the slight interlude when it's just music and then maybe another blast as the chorus repeats one last time and they sing... (this seems to be coming more of a *imagine what the con perf will be like more than a review...)

5. Shake It (Jun's Solo): Take this however you will. The second I hear this song I start laughing. Hard. My next reaction is to just bop my head and kind of go crazy. xD I don't know why. This song just seems to make my brain and body go crazy. This might sound weird... (and maybe I'm biased?) but I feel like these types of songs (and Come Back to Me) really suit Jun. Be it singing and just... they allow him to get creative during concert performances and I am really waiting to see how Jun performes this during concert. I am really excited for this. Notice I'm not actually talking about the song? ^^;; Because to be honest - the logical part of my brain is like "ew you don't like this type of music" but the irrational part of my brain is like "OMFGILUVTHIS" (again - same thing with Come Back to Me). I don't really get why - this isn't bias because honestly, I don't like Yabaix3, Naked or any of Jun's solo that much but ... his last two solos have just... I dunno. There is something weird about them that makes me like them xD

⒍　虹のカケラ~No Rain, No Rainbow~: I will say this right away - the song I like the least in this whole album. It's boring. Boring, standard, does not stand out. That is not to say that I dislike this song. Again, I really like how this sing this song. As in, I really like their voices in this one. And Jun does a fricken falsetto and it's like bells to my ears. In fact their voices in this song just sound so nice. I really like hearing them go high (I don't know why - they're guys I should be expecting deep and manly... o_O) but I really like how their pitch is a lot higher in this song. It's nice. But yeah - other then that this song is pretty boring honestly. I guess it's a good calm down after Jun's solo

8. Hung Up On (Ohno Solo): I heard the 1min30sec preview of this song and became really excited. Not my most favourite solo of Ohno's and music wise not what I would listen to on a daily basis but just the idea that it could get Ohno dancing makes me so excited. The song itself... I like how there is a touch of Sho in there to make it sound deeper because I think without the Sho in the back the song would actually sound off. Ohno's soft is generally pretty soft and not really good at the "shouting" types of songs (which is also why it's not a favourite) but I think the added Sho gives it a good "manlier" touch if you will. Now - the reason I listen to this song on repeat? Because I can see Ohno dancing to this song when I listen to it. I can see it so clearly. I can see his face when he has to pull this long notes, and I can see him moving like he did in TOP SECRET with that sharpness and precision that is just amazing. I don't see hip rolls to be honest but I can see something very cool (I can't explain it) but I can see a perfect performance in my head and I love what I'm seeing in my head. (Final thought - cannot understand a word of Ohno's English though ^^;;)

9. Joy: This song is interesting because I realize that a lot of it is carried heavily by their voices. By that I mean the actual instrumental of the song.. is pretty repetitive. It's the same few chords repeated over and over (for the most part - except the chorus but even the chorus is kind of simple really) and what really brings this song the melody is their voices. Which I like. I heard it in the training camp video and I liked it. I like it now. It's cool to jam to and kind of bop your head to. ^^

10. どこにでもある唄 (Nino Solo): I think I will surprise a lot of people when I will say right away - this is my least favourite solo of the album. In fact I found myself skipping it a lot. A lot of people say they like it cause it's so 'sweet' and omg! Nino wrote and composed it himself! But forgetting about that... the song is just way to quiet and slow for my tastes. I know it's sweet, but this song puts me to sleep. It's just too soft. Not enough noise to keep my interested. I agree Nino's voice is amazing .... but yeah. Putting me to sleep. ^^;; I really have to be "in the mood" for this song. Although I am interested in how he will perform this. Will he play an instrument? Or will he just stand there and sing? Because this isn't a song that would match any sort of dancing or movement. Either way I can see myself enjoying this solo in a concert.

11. negai: and now we move from my least favourite solo to my most favourite song of this album. Negai. Ever since the radio rip of this song, it's been my favourite and even after hearing the whole album it is still my most favourite. I love this song. I love the tune, I love the lyrics, I love their voices. I love everything about this song. Ugh. I have no words to express just how awesome this song is for me. <3 Sounds so beautiful. And my most favourite part is actually not when they're singing (although the chorus is just so beautiful) but the part when it's just the violin (that is a violin right?) playing. Uggggh.. so beautiful. <3<3 Yeah, can you tell this is my most favourite song? I'm not being too obvious am I? =P

13.「じゃなくて」 (Aiba's Solo): I was surprised when I heard the radio rip of this song but somehow this song really suits Aiba. This kind of jazzy tune. I can imagine him doing what Jun did for Wish in the 5x10 concert. That kind of broadway style thing, except I picture Aiba wearing a top hat and less twirling and spinning and more standing in one place, jumping, hopping... Aiba motions. (I dunno how to explain...). The lyrics of this song are kind of cute and make me laugh in a way. It's sweet. Suits Aiba. ^^ (I don't really know what to say honestly... Aiba's solos are all cute to me but they never stand out too much and this one is no exception to be honest...)

14. Morning Light: Uh. Hello. 2nd favourite song for the album. Will not lie. When the radio rips of this song and negai came out all I did was listen to these two songs on repeat. AT FIRST - I wasn't impressed by this song but then I heard the chorus and I was pretty much hooked. I love the chorus for this song. It's so catchy. I don't flail about it as much as negai (because face it - negai is just an amazingly pretty song). But this song is awesome in it's own, really catchy way. It pretty much is my type of up-beat song. Fast, up-beat, catchy... I dunno - my ideal song to be honest. I could work out to this song.

15. このままもっと (Sho's Solo): And we've hit it. My most favourite solo of the album. This was actually a big surprise for me. Why? Because normally Sho's solos are my least favourite. I'm not to big of a fan of rap so it's no surprise for me but this song... is just.. omgosh. It's so cute and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and it makes me smile and I kind of just wanna hug something and go "d'awwwww". it's so adorable. Ugh. I could quote so many lines of this song to express how adorable this song is. SO CUTTTEEE.  SHO!! I LOVE YOU. Ugh. This song is so adorbs. And he still manages to incorporate some rap into it and it actually sounds good. Actually when the song transitions into the rap it reminds me of another Arashi song but I can't think of what song. ANYWAY - I can imagine the performance of this song to be so cute. Ugh. SO CUTE. (how many times have I written that so far?). Again - because I"m not too big on Sho's solos his performances never really catch my notice either (although I really liked his Can't Let You Go performance in the Time con..) But.. omg. I can imagine the performance of this being so cute and adorable and ... *sigh dreamily*... this song is just too cute. Ugh. I've repeated it so many god damn times it's ridiculous. ^^;;

18.　遠くまで: Heard a bit of this song watching the JAL CM's. I like the chorus of this song. But like Niji no Kakera this song is... kind of. It's not boring but it's very generic. I mean it's the typical "up-beat" Arashi song you know? Nothing really stands out about it... actually I think this song might be my least most favourite song of the album. At least Niji no Kakera has their really pretty voices as a plus point but in this song it's just kind of.. generic up-beat, happy happy Arashi. And yeah I like up-beat "Happiness" or "Kitto Daijoubu" type of happy but... eeeh. You know what - this song is like Summer Splash. I'll think it's boring the entire year until I see them sing it in concert and then suddenly I'll grow to love this song. =P Yeah. I can see that happening. It'd be a great encore song.

Final Conclusion:

Okay. So. I'm going to do a bit of comparing with BNMF. With BNMF  my initial reaction was "ew no" and I grew to love it. with that album... I don't like each individual song as much as I love the album as a package. A whole. All the songs really seem to fit well together and slide into one another really well and that's why I like BNMF more than this album. With this album, Beautiful World - I LOVE all the songs individually. All of them. (was not the case - and still is not hte case with BNMF - lol). The problem? I hate the singles that are in this album. Hatenai Sora, Dear Snow, To Be Free... Lotus is okay. But yeah. These songs just interrupt the flow of the single for me. Like whenever it hits one of those songs I find it jarring. I actually experimented and took these songs out and the album flowed so much better for me without the stupid singles. They're just so out of place. Maybe it's cause the songs of this album are so high quality but the singles.. were... .... not high quality. So yeah. My main gripe with this album is actually the singles that were inserted into the album - take these out and this album is amazing and I LOVE it. ugh. So good. <3

LOOKING FORWARD TO HOW THEY WILL PERFORM (hopefully) ALL THESE SONGS IN THEIR UPCOMING CONCERTS =D=D=D

(and yeah this was long - sorry >.<)

まだ見ぬ世界へ PV

I pretty much hyperventilated within the first 30 seconds of the PV. I think that says enough about how much I just absolutely LOVE this PV. Oh. My. God.

I didn't really listen to the song when the radio rip came out so this is my first real chance at listening to the song. And for the most part, it sounds great. I love it, this new "style" their trying sounds pretty awesome - one thing I didn't like was the fact that they messed around with Sho's voice. I actually really don't like that. I've always liked Sho's rap (in the older songs like Kitto Daijoubu, etc) because his rap has always been very soft. Lately I haven't been a fan because - well just in general I'm not actually a very big fan of rapping. But It's okay. But.... then they started auto-tuning it (or whatever it's called, I don't want to get into technical arguments okay? *cough*ppl@arama*cough*) and ... well I'm not liking it. I sincerely hope for the rest of the album they leave Sho's rap untouched because I believe it sounds best like that.

But anyway - onto this AWESOME PV. For the past two years, even since Troublemaker all their PV's have been pretty lack-luster and the same. One borrowing off another. Monster was like Truth, Lotus was like Believe, don't get started on Dear Snow, Hatenai Sora, etc. etc. But this PV - oh man - this PV is like gold. It's just...

The beginning kind of gives me a headache at first but the moment *boom* You can see Arashi and the music totally starts up with all the lights it's just like "whoa". I had to lower my laptop brightness to the lowest because this PV is bright. Like seizure-inducing bright but I love it. I love the colours. And the members. It's like I got transported back to 1999-2000, A.Ra.Shi, Sunrise Nippon era. Aiba and Sho and Nino seemed to revert back to their chibi-selves. like seriously. I was like "what is going on here, is this the right time?" but then....

then the PV shifts to that white room and I felt like I got transported to a K-Pop PV. I know, I've mentioned I don't like K-Pop and I did have a severe WTF moment but it's Arashi, I'm biased and I was like "oh damn they look so HOT" but yeah, they looked really Korean in the black, and with Aiba and Sho's hair all flat and normal. Although - I have to say Aiba has looked gorgous this entire PV. Like just... UMPH. That guy. Especially in the cube-room he was just so sexy. Like oh my gosh. Actually all of them were pretty sexy in the white room with the black... whatevers. Maybe I can finally see the appeal of K-Pop if it's Arashi doing it. Hahaha.

The dance choreo to this PV is just uggh.. so good. Seriously, who's their new choreographer because they need to be given severe hugs. And I love the speed they move at during the line where it's like "Every day, every night, every ~", I know they're just taking steps back but it's just so fast and so on that I'm just like "wow", but I love the choreography so much.

The hair. Well Jun's hair, do I need to comment? His hair has been on permanent "awesome" mode ever since he cut it. I will never have anything bad to say about his hair until the day he decides to grow it out again (*KNOCK ON WOOD*). Nino's hair is the same. Nice, safe, good-looking, I don't understand how he can look so adorable and yet so hot. Aiba's hair in the beginning - like I said - he went back to Chibi and then turned insanely hot after they flattened it. Same with Sho except Sho's hair was so ugly in the beginning. Such an ugly hairstyle. I feel bad but honestly, I've never disliked Sho's hair before (he always generally keeps a safe style) but uggggh... his hair lately, and in this PV (which was shot BEFORE).. not to my taste :( But in the white room he turns hot again, so it's all good. Ohno's hair seemed to go all over the place. In some angles (especially in the close-ups) I was like "GET A COMB" but from far away it actually looked okay.

So yeah. This PV kind of seemed to have a really strong "Korean" vibe to it. In the beginning, and it was so strong in the white cube room. Like, what they were wearing, the way it was shot, their overall appearances, if you blurred their faces, inserted in a Korean song and told me it was a K-boyband I would've believed it in a heartbeat. I still do kind of laugh when they transition to the cube room but then Aiba comes out and I"m just drooling at his utter sexy. *fans self* Haha.

The effects, I like them, I like the vibrance and the colours. Although I can see why it would give people seizures - the best thing though? They don't look cheap. It looks legitly done, like they put money into it. So I'm satisfied. And for the most part I like the shift in the PV. This might just be me (I haven't listened to the song enough to catch the lyrics) but if I just look at the PV - this is just my taking - but it seems like they're trying to show "past Arashi" and the "present Arashi".

I mean think about it. In the beginning, all the colour, vibrance, with everyone looking like they went back to 1999 and then BAM they suddenly just turn into these sexy, sexy men in a white room. Basically I'm trying to say it's like they're trying to show some sort of "maturity" growth? I guess? Like from chaotic, vibrant, little kids to a more organized, classy group of really, really, really hot guys? Or is it just me?

Anyway, I just passed the 1000 word mark on this "review", "flail" whatever this is but if you can't tell how much I love this PV from reading this I think you need to re-learn English because HOLY SHIT THIS PV IS AWESOME *crying tears of joy* (and I've re-watched it like.. hundreds of times already and I still can't stop hyperventilating over the sheer awesomeness of this uggggh. *fans self*). ARASHI I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Mother episode 1

See. I heard about Mother before, and it seemed like an interesting storyline, but I didn't really think about watching it until the girl appeared in Himitsu no Arashi-chan, VIP ROOM. And then I decided to watch it.

If I were to sum up episode 1 in one word... I think all I can think is I'm absolutely horrified.

But horrified is not the impression that the drama gives me. This is a legit, sad drama. And I'm not talking One Litre of Tears medical drama sad, I mean sad. It's just utterly sad. I was tearing up at the part where... (omgosh I still don't remember any of their names, I apologize!!!) the women was like "I'll be your mom". The acting, the music, just everything in this drama is just brilliant. My god.

Things I'd like to address. Would you like to know why horrified is the word I chose to sum up episode 1? Because of what Rena's mother does to Rena after she catches her boyfriend about to (probably) sexually abuse her. SHE BEATS HER. SHE BEATS HER OWN FRICKEN DAUGHTER WHO WAS ABOUT TO BE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY HER BOYFRIEND. WHAT THE @#$!. Honestly I am utterly sickened, and horrified and sickened and I felt so bad for the girl. That entire montage of him calling her, telling her to dress up, with flashes to the women flipping through her book of "things she likes" was just utterly... horrifying to me. Not in the scary movie sense but in a moral sense. I could feel my heart cracking, yet speeding up and I was honestly terrified because I knew something would happen to her. And something did. And I was utterly, utterly disgusted.

with that being said. The two leads. The girl and the women, so great. So fantastic. I will reccomend this drama and I won't because it's not your typical type of drama. I don't know if it gets lighter (somehow I doubt it) but just judging from episode 1, seems like a sob story. I'm personally not a fan of medical sob stories, but I think I will continue with this one because it seems brilliant.

Freeter Flail [MAJORLY LONG POST]

This is going to be a long, slightly emotional, and kind of random post that will go on very many different tangents but somehow all revolves around my love of Nino's drama, 「フリーター、家を買う」. So yeah. Honestly? This is mostly a personal post that only vaguely relates to Freeter to be honest. ^^;; But read away.

So, I just watched episode 4 of Freeter and... I cried. I don't cry for a lot of things. I rarely cry for anything. The last time I cried watching a drama was when I watched "One Litre of Tears" which was 2 years ago and I only cried one TISSUE. Not a box, not a package. One tissue, that's it. Nothing more. So i guess you can imagine how hard it is for me to cry and yet I cried watching Freeter. Episode 4. The minute Seiji said "Ore shika ha nai" and the tears just started flowing down my face and I couldn't stop them.

I really don't know what it was about this scene. Actually the entire episode I really felt like crying. Or I had the urge to. This entire drama is a roller coaster for me. My heart breaks in every episode as I watch Seiji struggle with his family's problems. This episode... watching Seiji break like that, I just couldn't help but start sobbing. I didn't even know WHY I was sobbing. I didn't feel sorry for him, I don't know, somehow.. I ... I empathsized with him even though I've never been in his situation before in my life. Maybe it's Nino's acting, I'm not sure but when I saw Seiji crying my entire heart just broke for him.

I love my mom. I really do. My mom is to me, like Seiji's mom was to him. She is my support. I'm not as FAIL as Seiji was, I mean I get straight A's and study hard and what not, but even then, I'm not the proud, confident, 'nerd' that most Straight A'ers are. And so I have my mom there to be my pole to lean on. She's there, every step of the way saying "you can do it, you're fine" she is the person that asks me "Are you okay? Can you handle it?". She is there to tell me when I can take a break, when it's okay for me to break down, when it's okay for me to take a step away and just... relax. And so seeing Seiji's mom like that, in such a depression. It breaks my heart. It really hurts me and as I watch Seiji struggle it hurts me more because i know, I KNOW, if that was me in that position, I would break. I would just crumble into pieces and fall apart. Especially if Seiji's dad was my dad.

Which brings me to another point. Seiji's dad. I hate him. I don't care what his excuse is, no matter what his problem is, or why he's being such a fucking ass hole, I don't CARE. I don't have a good relationship with my dad. Granted, my dad is actually a good dad, I just... don't get along with him. And my dad actually supports my mom. But seeing Seiji's dad makes my blood boil. Seeing him yell at Seiji, yell at Seiji's sister (who I can't remember the name off), seeing him yell at his WIFE who than has the KINDNESS TO PROTECT HIM just... OH MY GOD. That is half the reasno I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry from sheer ANGER at seeing this man on screen. I just wanted to reach in there and punch him, over and over, and over again until he realized what a RETARD and what a FAILURE of a HUMAN BEING he is. *rantsgrumbleswearkillssomeone*. Yeah. I don't have a good relationship with my dad, and my dad is nothing like this man but I just generally dont' like fathers and seeing a father like this just... ugh. I'm disugsted.

See? See how Freeter does this to me? How I can I NOT love a drama that envokes so much emotion in me? Normally I have as much emotion as a rock - ie - none. I have little empathy for anyone, and the emotional and understanding range of a teaspoon. You could say this is a mental problem but whatever. And yet, to have a drama like this drive me up the wall with anger, frustrating, annoyance, sadness, heartbreak, tears... T-T

and then to move on to just the whole theme the drama seems to be showing of SOCIAL PRESSURE IN JAPAN. Oh my god. I love this drama just for this reason. This is a brilliant theme to show because it's true. This is SO Japanese and Japanese people need to LEARN about how stiffling their social heirarchy is, not just on a business level but just on a regular "neighbourly" level. It's suffocating. It's terrible. You constantly have to be good to your neighbours, your relatives, the people around you, and if you're not your orstricized, rejected. This drama is no exaggeration and I honestly think that the fact that Japan has made a drama like this is just one LARGE step for the country and I'm so glad it's doing well and that people are SERIOUSLY watching this.

Freeter I think, is not only the best drama I've seen all year, but one of THE BEST dramas I've seen so far. And I know it's not done yet so I really shouldn't be saying this so fast (I mean, episode 4 - come on) but honestly... *wibbles*.

果てない空 Review

THIS IS IT PEOPLE. THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. OMG. O.M.G.

They did it. Quality. I love this single. I don't care what anyone says. I love this. Every. Single. Song. Absolute love. Maybe it's cause they actually have more than 2 songs. Maybe it's cause they have a making of. Maybe it's cause they have a fricken Christmas song. I DON'T KNOW BUT I LOVE THIS.

果てない空：
It's a theme song. I like it. It's not AWESOME but I like it. It's got more speed than Dear Snow so I don't find it boring and it's not too crazy like Troublemaker (which I sadly have a love-hate relationship with). I haven't seen the PV yet and I don't plan too because I don't want to ruin the image of this song in my mind. It's really calming and reminds of Freeter, which I love. <3

STORY:
Eeeks! I love this song. Hands down best song on the single. I wouldn't expect it from the title, but it is. It's so catchy and .. .I don't know, it reminds me of something but I can't remember what. But it's speedy, and smooth. Slick. I kind of want them to perform this because I can imagine the craziest dance being accompanied with this song. And I mean like... fast, hard, dancing. Like even crazier than Believe or Crazy Moon it would be the most awesome dance ever. Ah. This song. Absolute love. This totally beats out Hatenai Sora and the Christmas song. 

Maboroshi:
Ah. The ballad. It's alright. Not one of their best ballads. Although I like it better than Dear Snow, so I guess that says something right? (I'm sorry, I"m sorry but.. I just.. didn't get along with that single very well). It's sweet. It sounds sweet, the music in the background is really subtle but it sounds very nice. Again, like Hatenai Sora it's really calming. And kind of... heart-wrenching in a way for some reason. I'm not really listening to the lyrics so I don't know what they're actually singing about. ^^;;  Truthfully it's not a bad song, and far above "mediocre" but it's over-shadowed by three other GREAT songs that this one kind of looks bland, caught in the middle. But I am sure I will grow to love it as I listen to the single more. (and I'm currently repeating it now and falling more in love with it. LOL). 

あの日のメリークリスマス:
OMG A CHRISTMAS SONG KYAA~~~ I LOVE CHRISTMAS. And it sounds so fricken jazzy and it sounds like a fricken rip off from Wish which I don't know if I like or not. xD OMG. The chorus. Oh the chorus. <3 Is it bad that when I hear this song I imagine Arashi dressed up as elves prancing up and down and singing this in the snow with Christmas lights and gigantic presents in the snow. Um.. PV NOW PLEASE? CHRISTMAS. But I dunno, for some reason it's not as loud as I thought it would be, but it totally fits the Christmas mood. Oh my god. <3<3. Aggh.. I can tell this is another song I'm gonna have a love-hate relationship with. I mean honestly there are so many better x-mas songs but come on.... it's like full-blown Christmas, how can I not love it? 

Overall: (4/5)

It's a great single. I think overall, as an ENTIRE single (and not just the main song) this is the best single they've released all year. Sure, I liked Troublemaker, Monster, Love Rainbow - but that's it. I didn't like any other song in any of those singles, all I liked were the title tracks. (and don't even bring up Dear Snow - sorry). But this is the one single where I actually like ALL the songs on it. And I mean ALL the songs. Maboroshi is a bit iffy but it has two other songs, STORY and the Christmas song (too lazy to type the title ^^;;) that are just so GREAT that one "okay" song really doesn't matter. Yes Arashi. The end of the year, I knew you guys could do it, and you guys did. I am so happy right now *sobs*

It's not joke, I really did tear up when I heard STORY because it's been so long since I've heard such a great song from them in a single I just felt like I had to cry.. :( (god I'm such a sad fangirl -_-;;)

Closing note: ALL THE SONGS ON THIS SINGLE NEED A PV FOR ITSELF

Himitsu-chan [2010.08.26]

**spoilers alert :P**

This was my ranking (just looking at  the mannequins)

1) #5 - 2) #2 - 3) #4 - 4) #1 - 5) #3

The actual results?

1) #4 - 2) #2 - 3) #5 - 4) #1 - 5) #3

so I got... 2/3 wrong, in fact I mixed them up.

Who do the clothes actually belong to?

1: Aiba - 2: Ohno - 3: Jun - 4: Sho - 5: Nino

I feel so bad for Jun. But it's true, when you just see the mannequin what he picked looks really plain but when I actually saw him wear it I wanted Aiba to lose. Actually though, I thought Sho's was Jun's. I was happy cause I was like "yes, there is no way Jun is going to be last" but he still was. Poor guy. I feel so bad, he looked so bumbed out when they were cutting the ribbon to reveal the bus. But honestly, when Jun actually WEARS that outfit it doesn't look so bad anymore. And in the photoshoot he looks really cute xD It was just too plain, not ugly, just plain =(

My opinion on each mannequin?

1 (Aiba's): I can totally tell it's Aiba's. I never agreed with Aiba's fashion sense too much. It's too.. out there. It's not really ugly persay I just don't agree with it. I mean, overall, the balance is all very nice it's just... if I saw my boyfriend wearing that I'd probably tell him to go and change. On Aiba though, it doesn't actually look that bad. The rainbow leggings do bug me a bit though... but honestly aside from that it's eh. Not really for "summer" but as just co-ordinated clothing it's alright.

2 (Ohno's): It's simple. I love simple. I love Ohno, Ohno wears simple. It looks good on him. A bit too colourful but overall, very nice and something that I would like to see someone wear. I also like it when people wear layers. And the shoes are nice. :) I really like the shoes he picked. I can't say much, I don't have anything wrong with Ohno's clothing. I basically love the entire thing, I just would never wear it myself xD

3 (Sho's): As I said, I thought this was Jun's at first. Glasses, hat, vest, a total Jun combination. But I was wrong and I am so sad I was wrong because this SHOULD HAVE BEEN JUN's. >.> (the Jun fan in me is severly butt-hurt). But as I said before, I don't like those styles of hats and I don't like thick-rimmed glasses. When people WEAR them I don't mind but just seeing it on a mannequin is kind of.. ."eck" to me. But it still, overall, looked really nice and well put together. Very balanced (like Aiba's :D). But when Sho wears it.. eh... eh... I kind of wanted him to be last..... -_-;; Sho doesn't actually look good in what he picked :P

4 (Jun's): There is  nothing wrong with this outfit, it's just too damn boring. Honestly it looks like a professional bowler uniform or some teenage kid who works at a gas station. It's not UGLY, but compared to the other 4, this doesn't really stand out or garner much attention. It's just too plain. D: Maybe a bit more colour.. a different design for the over-shirt... nicer looking pants? I don't know, it was just too plain. But seriously, when Jun actually wears this it doesn't look so bad.

5 (Nino's): Seriously, I like Nino's the most. I dont' know why girls freaked out when he took off the first layer and was wearing that... thing (yeah, I dont' know fashion/clothing names). It didn't look that bad did it? o_o and the shorts ARE cute. The shoes do bug me a bit though. But overall I thought it was the nicest, even when Nino wore it. The colour balance is nice (all light and airy) and layers (I have a thing for layers) were so nice. I mean it was casual, and well-balanced. Seriously I don't get why everyone thought he would be last o_o;; Sho and Nino's positioning shoulda been switched >.<!!

phooey. I feel so bad for Jun, losing twice. What he picked this time wasn't even bad... wanted to give him a hug at the very end when they were sending the bus off. His voice-cracked when he was announcing it. :P I wonder why he doesn't wear shorts though. Seriously if Jun paired off his top with a pair of khaki's his mannequin probably would've gotten a lot more votes. O_o Does the guy not like shorts or something? *sigh* If they ever do this again, I really, really hope he gets first place. >.<

Music Lovers [2010.08.22]

This was awesome. An hour long mini-Arashi concert with one of the best/funniest interviews ever. 

Songs they performed are (I think this was the order)

- Moving On 

- Troublemaker

- Medley (Happiness, Believe)

- Yurase Ima, wo (guys only)

- A Day in Our Life (guys only)

- Fight Song (guys only)

- Refrain (SO BEAUTIFUL OMG)

- Summer Splash (end credits only D=)

and during the interviews they asked questions regarding 'Who is the most OO', really funny. They were rated by 100 girls, Kuroski Meisa and themselves <3 Haha. Poor Aiba got bullied a bit. and Nino got bullied at the very end to. They did this special portion where they performed just to a bunch of guys and it was so cool. They looked like they were having lots of fun singing to the guys and the guys looked like they were having a huge amount of fun too. It's nice to know guys like Arashi so much. Haha. 

and the performance of Refrain at the end was so beautiful and cool and nice and.. kyaa~ *fangirl squeal*. It was a really cool episode. People should see it =) I laughed really hard watching it. ^^;; 

Shiyagare 2010.08.21

And going with my last post about posting more.. THIS

If you people have not seen this episode yet you HAVE to see this. This will be one of those episodes that will go down in history as a MUST WATCH (much like MMA: Boat Club, DnA: Mole/Fish searching etc. etc.). You cannot miss this episode. I'll give you a brief summary after watching it earlier this morning (thank you uploaders). ^^ Funniest Shiyagare episode I have seen yet. TOKIOsempai with Arashi is so much love it can't even be contained in this world.

*ahem* - summary

Starting off you have the members guessing who the guest will be. Straight of the bat Sho mentions  TOKIO and the other members start guessing which member. They name-drop Yamaguchi and say definitely not him. Then someone (forgot who) insists that it must be Matsu-nii (Matsuoka the drummer) but... they're wrong. The two guests from TOKIO are... Kokubun Taichi and Joushima Shigeru (riida).

This episode may be confusing to some but Joushima is also referred to as "Riida" because he is the "riida" of TOKIO. Anyways. The earlier talk portion is about how no one knows anything about Joushima so the whole "rumor" segment is basically just information on him. What he does on his spare time, how he disguises himself, the weird stuff inside his wallet. Basically - what you learn from this... Joushima Shigeru is more of a mystery than Tsuyoshi from Kinki Kids.

Then the three points - what is TOKIO going to teach Arashi? The True Heart of a Johnny's.

1 - Johnny's Rules
Basically they start of talking about different rules such as until when do they stop calling a sempai KUN (it mostly seems to start from Higashiyama/Shounentai) and then it continue on to... putting names on your underwear? YES - they start talking about whether the members put their names on their underwear, in which they all say no. Then the TOKIO members talk about their dorm lives (because back then, JE used to be like Korea and the boys used to live in dorms until just before Arashi joined), and then Taiichi finally shows Arashi his "souveigner" that he brought them. What is it? New pairs of white, fresh briefs with each of their names written on the band. Even better - they put them on right there on stage for everyone to see xD

2 - Cooking
Jun and Taichi have a cooking contest to see who can cook the best chahan. You reall get to see Taichi showing his real cooking skills while Jun is just kind of bumbling along :P But both of their dishes look really good. :) The Arashi members can't stop talking about Pork-Kimchee Chahan. Haha. I don't like kimchee but they really made it sound/look good. Who won the competition? Gotta watch to find out.

3 - Johnny's Games
This is by far the best part of the show. The Arashi-members play INTRO-DON, a fun game where you hear the intro of the song and have to guess what song it is. You get to see a test of how good the Arashi-members memories are, and guess what? They prove to be pretty fricken good (as they all seem to remember the choreo to every single song pretty damn well). Of course some TOKIO-sempai teasing ensues (where the all do NOT know the hit song Sorafune xD) and some Aiba-bullying as well. So much love <3

seriously - WATCH this episode. You really don't need to understand whats going on, just watching is enough.

SUCH a hilarious episode. I'm terrible at summarizing and what not but seriously - great episode, NEED TO WATCH.

*re-watches for the nth time xD*

Tokei Jikake no Umbrella

Hello? Is this song not made of 50 000 different levels of utter AWESOME?

although the english does make me laugh. Very hard. But that just adds more to the awesome. The song sounds great, and it makes me laugh at the same time xD

My Girl is nice and all.. but uh...... actually I don't even remember what it sounds like. ^^;; Oh dear.

maybe it'll be like Season or Everything where one day I just randomly fell in love with both the songs for no reason. Or maybe not. I really can't remember My Girl and I dont' think I'll ever get the urge to listen to it with the B-side as Tokei Jikake no Umbrella. That song is just made of so much win.

kyaaaa... love love love love love. >_< *squees*

ah... but I'm probably not going to buy the single. I dunno.. I love Arashi and all but I'm probably cheaper than Nino ^^;; Stick with the albums when they come out. (sadly - most likely with Tokei... *sigh*)

and that's my fangirl schpiel for the day. bye bye.

AAA2008 Review [part 1]

Okay, my review. It's probably going to be REALLY long. I'm not going to post a lot of screencaps cause I don't want to make this longer than it should be (especially with no LJ cuts) - I made notes while watching so be warned for all the fangirling - and I might missed stuff cause I was doing homework too xD

so without further ado - START

OVERTURE

Kokuritsu is seriously huge an the cheering is REALLY loud o_O Also. Water effects? Awesome much Xd

Love so sweet

The guys appear out on the circle in the yellow suits from the screencaps wearing really ugly yellow shoes =D Also, either I'm getting really used to MatsuJun's voice or maybe he really just did sing on tune, I'm not sure xD

Oh Yeah!
Arashi starts spreading out, Ohno is sounding so nice with his voice in this song xD See a bit of AibaxNino and OhnoxSho but they're really fast and it's just me being stupid and catching little things ^^''

Kitto Daijoubu

They have their little solo introductions at this point with Jun camera whoring, saying lots of stuff and I think at the end he goes "Jun da yo~!" in this really cute way xD Nino with his usual "IRRASHAIMASE!", Aiba with his usual, Oh-chan being cute and going "HIIII" like he normally does xD Sho as usual, points to the camera and hypes up the fans and telling them to go "ARASHI!" Also I love Sho's hair - anyways - NINO SANG HIS LINE PROPERLY!! *giggles*

La tormenta 2004

First of all, new costume (which I like ^^) Orange vest with camo pants and everyone - shoes - omg - WANT!. Order change, Jun, Nino, Aiba, Ohno, Sho. Jun camera whores as usual xD Nino and Aiba just sort of stand and wave and do peace signs. OMG OHNO! OHNO! You know what he does? He pretends he's fishing!! I love him *GLOMPS* And sho does this really stupid but funny pose and I sort of want to hug him after it xDxD

Happiness
Guys going onto the moving stages. Ohno and Sho, Jun, Nino and Aiba. Didn't make any comments ^^'' woops.

Hadashi no Mirai
As usual the mic stands come out, Sho I swear did some weird pose - I don't know if that's part of the choreo or not but it was real weird. Jun and Nino turned their mic towards the other direction from the other three and you know what? I'm still loving their outfits xD

Aozora Pedal
Pace of the songs are slowing down, but no matter, love this song. Sho sounds really nice when he sings this. In fact you know what? They all sound so nice when singing this song. Aiba disappeared =O I wonder why?! At the end, if you remember they have a small amount of choreo which I really like. ^^

Hello Goodbye

OMG AIB SO CUTE CAN I HUG YOU?! This isn't my most favourite song but OMG SUCH A CUTE SONG! And seeing Aiba do it live? *SQUEALS* He is just SO CUTE. and on the back of his jacket it says "hello goodbye" and oh my god, Harmonia? Hello? Aiba? Harmonia? *dies* Aiba is just so much fucking love like.. oh my god marry me much dude? And his shoes *giggles* (I'm so focused on shoes it's not even funny -_-'')

Subarashiki Sekai

So beautiful. So beautiful. They're wearing new costumes - really pretty suits xD (I think I'm getting to used to Johnny's fashion ^^''). Aiba's missing in the beginning but he reappears in the middle. Everyone sounds really good during their solos (yes, even Jun =D), MatsuJun's bracelet changed and Ohno got a bracelet on his wrist too O_o

Tomodoinagara
You know, I only like this song when they sing it during concerts. Like during Iza! Now and now, love this song during concerts. So good. The tempo is a bit faster I think? Can't remember. Everyone sounds really good and oh my god I'm just.. like.. love this song so much. *sighs*

Still...

Nino and Sho are talking in the background *snickers* - I love this song by the way (I just love the set list in general BTW xD). You got Sho rapping from a really high platform (it actually went REALLY high) and his voice didn't change at all. All other members were on the cranes like the one Ohno's in. ^^

Lucky Man

Jun rips his shirt open in the beginning and oh my god it's SO distracting xD They got some nice dancing in between and then, then you know what? SOLO DANCES! SOLO DANCES! Oh my god MatsuJun crazy dancing *HUGS* Sho's was eh... well, he tried =D And then Aiba - SO CUTE (aiba is just.. you know, the cutest thing to me) and then Nino doing his BACKFLIP (even MatsuJun congratulates Nino on his success xD) - but wait? Where is Ohno?... 

Take me faraway

OHNO IS A GOD! How the hell does he DANCE to this song? And you know what? He even walks down the stairs on BEAT. LIKE OMG WTF?! How does he do that? Like seriously. Dancing... so nice. *sighs* Ohno, why are you so awesome? like seriously. He also manages to hit all the notes, high low PERFECTLY. I swear, I like listening to the live better than the actual album version o_o

Niji

How did I manage to take 6 screencaps? ...hmm... Anyways, I love Niji so I love this solo even though it's exactly the same s the time con. Only difference? Nino isn't a waterfall (he's just dripping, not pouring). The crowd went "lalala" again except it was so much more powerful cause there was so much more people. xD Rainbow appeared on the screens and the words "arigatou" appeared. Madness ensued as Nino took of his glasses, I think you know the drill xD

Smile

Extra pic of MatsuJun to make up for Nino xD Surprised they sang Smile, I don't know why, really up-beat and happy. Costume change by the way. Again, love the shoes xD All black = really hot by the way.

WAVE

It's not as bad as the time con. I tend to skip this song during the Time con but this time it's not so bad. The crowd did the wave while they sang so it was all nice. So many people in this concert o_o and there is the missing picture of Nino xD

CARNIVAL NIGHT part 2

Sho made this really constipated face which I didn't manage to screencap =P Sho also did some really weird arm rotating which Nino ended up making fun off xD Also, look at the pretty confetti!! Jun's flashing peace signs everywhere and as usual with this song there is dancing. =D

MC
-Ohno was bullied for Maou
-Sho was bullied because he's Sho
-Jun started talking like a kid (SO CUTE)
-Had to wait for Jun to put his jacket on
-Sho was bullied into talking like a kid
-They apologize cause he sucked so much xD

Kaze no Mukou e
Aiba ended up raising the tension as usual. The performance was cute, last time I saw it on SCP I laughed cause it looked really gay and stuff but I guess it depends on what they're wearing and the atmosphere cause I seriously thought their performance here was like.. so awesome. They looked HOT. Also, there was a really small MatsuMiya moment =D

Alright.. this became long.
and I ended up taking way to many screencap -_-''
I hope part 2 will be shorter... ^^''

please wait for part 2 some other time. =D

 

Arashi Beat Box

oh my god. so much awesome right there xD
I love this video so much.
But.. beware.
Might get a headache if you watch to many times (^^'')

well.. I did anyways.

but. here. take a look at =D

 

Himitsu no Arashi-chan #42 [2008.02.26] - Arashi Beat Box

Nino Flail [aka my new ichiban] xD

Nino's acting is SO FRICKEN GOOD!!

Like. Holy crap.

I just saw a preview of Door to Door - the drama SP he's going to be in and I was like "... o_o!!!!"

He looks just like a person with Cerebral Palsy, it's crazy, like... damn. There's the Hollywood actor right there, Ninomiya Kazunari.

I mean.. I was already blown away with how he did in Marathon but... like.. I'm just getting totally blown away again. And I love how Nino does the voices. In Marathon his voice was really high and childish and now his voice is deep and... it's, believable. Like. I don't think it's acting at all. I don't see Nino as "Nino" but as the character he plays. Gah. Can't explain (>_<'')

*in shock*

I'm not even this blown away by American actors, but Nino just... it's incredibly. (o_o)

You can tell I'm so looking forward to Door to Door xD

:::EDIT:::

For a while now, Nino and Jun have sort of been tied for first place, but now. It's all Nino. Don't worry Jun, you still have your very special pedastal for getting me into Arashi that is by default always an milimeter above every other member xD

No. But really, I think Nino is my ichiban - for the moment. Watch me revert back to Jun when Smile comes out xD

[Kinki Kids] - Yakusoku (約束)

Okay, technically this is a fangirling blog so I can fangirl about whoever I want. In this case, I would like to just let everyone know that even though Arashi is my #1 group, in terms of music...Kinki Kids are the winners. ^^ And with that, my crazy rant on how much I love, love love their new song "Yakusoku"

Yakusoku (約束)
What can I say? Ever since I heard this song in the Johnny's Countdown I've loved it. I downloaded the PV but I didn't really watch it. It's a bit plain, but this song. THIS song.. oh my god. It's so... much.. love. Like. I swear I'm not being biased. The melody is catchy and then their voices and their harmony and *rants on and on*... conclusion? This song is the best. I love this song.

Loving
It's alright. I like it, if I listen to it but it doesn't really stick in my mind. It's like a lot of Kinki Kids ballads - ie - they sort of make me sleepy xD It doesn't mean I don't like it but I'm not going to be listening to it on repeat. I think overall, it's the song I like the least.

Yume Hajime Hana　(夢始めの花）
It's faster paced than Loving so ... yeah. I generally like fast paced songs more ^^. I like the melody of the song, it's interesting. Possibly my second most favourite song in this single, but again, it doesn't stay in my mind so much. Although I enjoy listening to it. I like the chorus a lot. ^^ When the song starts to pick up... ah... so good.

Tabidachi no Hi　(旅立ちの日)
Ah. Even though this is a low ballad-sort of song, I like it a lot. It has a very calming effect on me. I'm not sure what, but it just gives me this sort of sweet feeling that i really like. The piano (pretty sure it's a piano) in the background in the beginning makes me smile. I always like piano's being played.

Overall
Overall - obviously - I love this single. xD Although I don't listen to all the songs (3/4) as an entire single it gives me this sort of... really mellow, calming sort of feeling. Kinki Kids music generally gives me that type of feeling and mixed in with their wonderful vocals it really just adds to the feel. This single, if you listen to all the songs together you really will get the best out of it. *sighs dreamily...* Seriously, if you're not a fan of Kinki kids - listen to Yakusoku and fall in love.

[SCP] Guest - Arashi

My review for SCP - the best fricken interview EVER. I hope they have a 2nd one .. or a deleted scenes. Cause they probably talked for 2 hours AT LEAST. >_>

The Talk:
50 minutes was too short. (>_<!!) They should've talked for like.. two hours or something! Actually, they technically only talked for about 40 minutes if you take away the performances. WHY?! Arashi is so interesting. *sigh* But... anyways, to the actual talk. I loved it. Somehow, after every interview, no matter how many things you hear over again you always learn something new out of it. ... They talked about a lot. First impressions of each member, important moments in their Arashi career, their debut etc. etc. The interview was... gah! It just gave off this really warm "I love Arashi" sort of feeling. ... I can't explain (-_-;;)

First Impressions:
Ohno
Sho - Seems to be good at dancing
Nino - Picked his nose without doing the dance practice

Ohno? Picking his nose and not dancing? Believeable. A rebel? Haha, oh that makes me laugh. But I guess he wasn't really being a rebel, he was.. just... being Ohno? I don't know, it's cute. He was told to go home, and he went home xD Oh Riida... you deserve a hug *hugs* I think bottom line is... the rest of the Arashi members thought Ohno was just plain weird but.. they all know better. ^_^

Sho
Aiba - Wearing a school Uniform
Nino - He got angry with me

The starter of many things in the JE world. The "Daigaku" Boom, the Rapping era (It's hard to believe Koki was inspired by Sho.. I mean... the difference between Sho's rapping and Koki's is... >_<;;) Anyways. Haha. Sho. His temper, it's probably not something that is funny, because it seems like a pretty scary temper but when you see Sho (the mother hen) no.. how can it not be funny? I read from 嵐's vox that the kid who threw the noodles into the sink was Kame? Oh, poor Kame xD But it's a bit ironic, Sho can't stand it if people don't clean up his mess... and apparently his room is freakishly messy. *tsk**tsk*

Jun
Aiba - Small but speaks with a lot of confidence
Nino - Dancing with a lot of effort

Aiba. I love you. His view of things is so... haha xD He says he was suprised that Jun was so "authoritive" even though he was short... but.. wasn't Sho like.. puny? I think Aiba needs to re-think many of his theories about people. Also.. somehow.. Jun. He was so serious, even as a kid. Maybe a bit too serious (^^;;) But that's cute. I <3 (I am sooo biased xD)

 Nino
Sho - good at baseball
Jun - liar

Nino. Such a twerp even at a young age. I feel sorry for Jun, I swear, Jun and Nino probably didn't get along as Juniors. I make a bet, Nino probably made fun of Jun when they were juniors. I mean.. you can easily assume that from their first impressions of each other. But.. I love Nino. He's my niiban. Such a sneaky little bastard xD And Sho, your impression of Nino is not an "impression" it's a known fact. =D

Aiba
Sho - Who is this guy?

They should stop bullying Aiba. (T_T) I wanted to know like.. the other members first impressions of him. In fact, I wish I could heard EVERY MEMBERS impressions of EVERYONE. Not just two (or in Aiba's case - one) for each. It's not enough. What did Jun and Nino think of Aiba (they were all in MAIN together), and.. seriously.. what the hell did Ohno think of everyone?

Beautiful Days: - It was pretty. The set was pretty, but they don't really do much in it but stand. Although it's a good song... okay, I said I liked all the performances but.. it's not a lie. I mean I didn't dislike the performance it's just.. they didn't really do much for me to judge (^^;;) The set was nice though!! (I know I said it twice xD)

Past the first impressions each member talked about how much they wanted to quit when Arashi was about to debut. Okay.. well.. Nino, Ohno and Sho. Thank GOD THEY DID NOT QUIT!! Oh my god.. but you know. It's a surprise isn't it? You make a group, where three people are wanting to quit, and somehow, they manage to pull through 10 years later as one of the most popular, closest groups. It's.. really sort of like "wow" and it's when you learn these things that you feel greatful. I mean, if Nino, Sho or Ohno quit.. Arashi wouldn't be Arashi. I'm so greatful.. so glad Aiba had a passport, so glad Ohno didn't just... drop out, so glad Nino and Sho decided to quite in December and not earlier, because any earlier, they wouldn't have been in Arashi.

But it's sort of amusing. Sho and Nino were like "Shit.. we're gonna Debut!!" and totally thinking it was the end of the world. Normal people would probably be like "WOOOOOO!!" xD Again, thank you god.

Kaze no Mukou e: - The beginning was cute. Did anyone spot the Juntoshi love right there? =D The dance is so cute/funny, I have to admit I started laughing halfway through the performance because it was just.. really ridiculous. But it fits the song, the dance. Very up-beat, fast, doing a lot, Jun's hairstyle is different xD Good performence, I'm happy they added in some choreography. - Oh... Sho.. pants + Shoes combi? No. Ugly. Bad (-_-;;) (oh and I'm not sure when this song comes up... so I'll just insert it here)

Then they talk about special memories. Well.. the talk about Nino, Sho and Ohno wanting to quit stemmed from Ohno saying how debuting was a special memory. But. Past that.

Sho - 2000 first concert
.........the costume nearly gave me a heartattack. =D

Aiba - Mayonaka no Arashi
Arashi's first TV show. Where they did daring things... really, the things Arashi goes through in their TV shows... I <3 them. It was a unanimous vote though, that's pretty.. wow. (o_o;;) - Except Ohno, but he's special xD

Sho + Jun - 2002 Here we Go! tour
Heard about this story. I still think it's sweet.. I mean... I think having their "talk" during this tour really helped them pull through. It really seems like without this talk.. they would've disbanded or something. (-_-;;)

Jun - 2005 HanaDan

Of course. HanaDan, Arashi's breaking point. They're popularity sky-rocket... also, the time Jun met Mao. Of course it's memorable for Jun... *winkwink*. *cough* anyways, but really. I can understand why - aside from the JunMao this is a memorable thing for Arashi. I find it sweet that the members are able to watch each other work as just... viewers. It's amusing. Especially the whole "Osaka Jo" dressing room thing. "Where's MatsuJun? Where is he?".... 1 hour later... "ZOMG IT'S MATSUJUN" *CLAPCLAPCLAP!!* xD Oh, Arashi are such dorks.

Ohno, Sho, Nino, Jun - 2006 Asia Tour

Aiba... uh... where are you in this? (he's bullied again xD) but... really their "2nd first concert". It's true thought isn't it? I'm really glad they have a 2nd Asia tour this year to ^_^ Can't wait for an American tour!! =D

Aiba - TV Shows (yet again)

Aiba seems to enjoy variety/TV shows with Arashi more than doing concerts and lives and stuff. But I guess I can understand why. I mean, concerts are fun and all, but it's part of the job, everyone has them, but TV shows ... they're a bit more special in a way. *shrugs* Aiba's a special guy. ^_^

Truth: - I will love this performance, always. The beginning was funny =P Jun teaching Aiba had to do the spinning kick (^_^) It was good, Aiba does such a pretty looking kick *hugs* I love it. It looks so cool, and natural... and... *babbles on for about 5 minutes* - Anyways, awesome. I love performances of Truth =D *ish happy* Everyone looked really cool here!

the end.

My long review... with random hints of me putting my opinions in here and there. If you're an Arashi fan, new or old - I demand you watch this episode of SCP *glares*

 

Believe/Kumori Nochi Kaisei

I've listened to both..
I LOVE Believe

Kumori Nochi Hare... I think I need to listen to more.
I don't know.
I'm not used to this type of style with Ohno.
Ohno's solos tend to me more... low...?
in this song he has to go higher a lot..
and I think I just need to get used to it.
(_ _;;)
~gomen!

but they're still both awesome songs xD
will do a actual review when the single is released!

[Drama Review] Tiger and Dragon

Well.. Originally I thought this blog would only be for fangirling Arashi - but I guess not. =P I'm currently watching Tiger and Dragon starring Okada Junichi and Nagase Tomoya from V6/TOKIO respectively and I'm seriously loving it so much. The scriptwriter is Kudo Kankero-san (same as the one for RnK) so maybe there is a pattern? Anyways, Review... start-o! (Will update as I finish each Episode ^_^)

Oh for the characters... I only listed the ones I actually had stuff to stay about xD Really the main characters are only Tora, Ryu and probably Shishou

Characters:

Toraji/Kotora/Tora (Nagase Tomoya): The first drama I've seen with Nagase and I'm seriously loving him to bits. He is so perfect for the role of Tora, it's like the character was written for him. When I watch, I don't even see him as "Nagase" the guy from TOKIO but I actually see him as just... Tora. I love Tora, he's just so... funny xD Nagase plays a pretty bad-ass character.

Ryuji (Okada Junichi): I tried watching Kisarazu Cats Eye but honestly.. I wasn't all that interested in it. (Blasphemy for an Arashi-fan ne?) but I did enjoy Okada's acting in it so I was always semi-interested in him. Watching Tiger and Dragon.. i love Okada. He is just... so funny =P He plays Ryuji so well. Ryuji as a character... he's.. pretty deep but he is so funny. I love scenes with Ryuji and Megumi cause it's just so funny. Also, who can forget Ryuji's weird.. fashion... (o_o;;)

Shishou (Nishida Toshiyuki): Shishou! I forgot his actual name cause Tora always calls him Shishou but I really like this guy. I don't actually know the actor but... I think he plays the character very well. I don't know why I like him so much, but.. he's sort of like an ideal sort of weird grandfather ne? (I know I'm weird xD) But his scenes with Tora are pretty funny/interesting and overall he is quite an interesting character, in a more funny aspect.

Megumi (Ito Masaki): Normally I hate characters like these. The ditzy sort of kind, but I don't know. I like Megumi a lot. She's just hilarious, how she's so self-absorbed. It's probably because of the actor. She plays Megumi as a ditz so well it's almost endearing in a way. The way she treats Ryuji. Sometimes though she can say the deepest stuff and then in seconds it's like.. back to being the idiot. I just find scenes with her interesting and always entertaining.

Chibi T/Takeshi (Kiritani Kenta): Okay, seriously when I saw this guy I screamed cause I was like "YES TAKAYAMA!!" Kiritani Kenta does comedy so well in my opinion. You see him very little but just the fact that he appears on the screen makes me grin like an idiot xD I have to admit though, Kenta doesn't look half bad as Takeshi. He's a very side-character but I couldn't not mention the infamous actor for Takayama of RnK desho?

Ta-Chan (Omi Toshinori): In RnK this guy is George-san! I really like this guy on both dramas. As Ta-chan he's funny, and you see him more than George-san but he's still interesting. You actually see him each episode and he is just amusing. Again, he was just one of the people I had to mention because of his link with RnK

Plot/Story:
Eh... it's sort of hard to explain the episodes of Tiger and Dragon but I'll try my best (-_-'')

Special (Sanmai Kisho): You HAVE to watch the special first to understand the story. This special takes place before the actual events of the drama and explains rakugo and shows us how all these characters met and why they're all part of this story. It's amusing and you really get to see how the drama works as this special. If you don't see this special first, I assure you, you will be confused as hell. Basically it's an introduction to Tora, how he meets Shishou and why he starts Rakugo as well as Tora's first retelling of a the story "Sanmai Kisho" (The Three Vows), or in Tora's case "The Five Vows". Best Lines - "Yakuza with the big dick" and "OMAE NO KAA-CHAN!!!"

Episode One (Shibahama): It's... quite a forgettable episode in my opinion, but it's not because it's boring, it's more because it's just.. an introduction. But even so, as you watch it is quite interesting. It basically re-introduces you to each character and Tora retells his first actual Rakugo story, like.. officially which is "Shibahama" (The Beach). Aside from that.. there's... not much to say.

Episode Two (Manju Kowai): This episode centers around Donta (Ryuji's elder brother) and is mostly about him. You learn more about him, his work (as a horrible comedian) and what-not. I think I should say here that each episode is pretty... episodic as in they do not link together. This episode was a bit weird, especially Tora's re-telling. You'll understand when you see but the shrieking girl at the end going "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!" really got on my nerves... (-_-;;)

Episode Three (Cha no Yu): This story centers around Okada's character Ryuji and you really learn a lot more about Ryuji, such as his personality and how he feels about his work and what not. What I thought best about this episode was the end where Tora threatens... the famous designer guy, or more like "teaches him a lesson" for playing Ryu around and it was sort of sweet because it was like... "aww.. Tora really cares" and it sort of shows how great of friends they've become.

Episode Four (Gonsuke Chochin): This episode centers around Shishou and the Yakuza boss (whom I forgot the name off). In the SP you learn that Shishou has a debt with the Yakuza boss (who is his golfing partner) but you are never really told in detail why they have such a relationship and in this episode you learn they were high school friends and it just goes into more detail on their past - and of course - their present.

Episode Five (Umaya Kaji): This episode... is about a comedy duo from Kansai. And.. it was a bit confusing at first. It's... sort of hard to explain this episode. Um. This comedic duo (which is family friends of shishou or something) are having problems .. and the rakugo story explains how to make sure the husband loves his wife. As I said, hard to explain. I tried... really. Oh but the husband is (I think) Katsuragi from Kurosagi.

Episode Six (Akegarasu): This episode is about Hayashiyatei Donkichi, a (I'm assuming) 40-year-old Virgin (LOL) and centers are the Rakugo family-members trying ot get him a girl. It's really sweet and guess what? The girl that Donkishi meets, she's from Kurosagi. I think she's that money-rubbing woman if I remember correctly. Creepy (o_o;;) Oh I think she's in RnK to, the first lady that cons Shizuna? But I'm not so sure =P (Got off topic) But really that's the episode in a nut-shell. Oh. And Tora tries to make Ginjiro (Yakuza boss's son) independant. Could this be a important plot-point for the future?

Episode Seven

Episode Eight

Episode Nine

Episode Ten

Episode Eleven

 

 

 

[Drama Review] - Ryuusei no Kizuna (SPOILERS)

I didn't do this for Maou (and maybe I should...?) but I want to write a full report on the drama Ryuusei no Kizuna Arashi's own Ninomiya Kazunari. This is really going to be a full summary starting from my reviews on the character, to the plot and I'll go episode by episode. After all, if I'm going to write a review I don't really want to be half-assed about it. So, if you're willing, have fun reading this (probably very long) review. douzo!

Characters
  

Ariake Koichi (Ninomiya Kazunari): I love Nino playing this character, in the first few episodes he manage to play funny very well and towards the end, he managed to play the serious, emotional parts perfectly. Oh and did I mention, Nino and tears = <3? As for the actual character of Koichi... I sort of wonder if he has some sort of mental problem. Like, he's certainly not crazy but I certainly wouldn't doubt a small bit of mental problems, it might just be me, or the way Nino acted but there was just something about Koichi that didn't make him seem mentally stable, or a bit less mentally stable than Taisuka and Shizuna. Especially when he says "we're gonna kill whoever killed our parents", of course Taisuke wants to as well but the way Koichi(Nino) looks when he says that is... creepy. (o_o)

Ariake Taisuke (Nishikido Ryo): I've always liked Ryo. Don't ask why, I just sort of did. I've only seen him in One Litre of Tears (and I only watched 3 episodes) so in acting, he never really left much of an impression on me, but I must say, he acted out Taisuke very well. I like Taisuke's character a lot (^_^) He acted the dork, and caring older "brother" very well. Also the swindling scenes were awesome, especially the one when Taisuke had to act like some sort of hip-hop gangster sort of guy. I don't really have much memory of Ryo's acting in 1LoT but... from what I saw in RnK... he's pretty awesome.

Ariake Shizuna (Toda Erika): I've been a bit biased against Erika Toda ever since I watched HanaDan Returns where she tried to tear Mao and Jun Domyoji and Makino apart and in Death Note ... I was sort of like...bleh. So really, as much as her acting was great I didn't really like her but her acting in RnK changed my mind completely! I love this girl. She plays the character of Shizuna very well and again, the swindling scenes. All in all, I don't really think I'd like Shizuna as much if Erika Toda wasn't the actor.

Togami Yukinari (Kaname Jun): I've never heard of this guy. And honestly, in the beginning, Yukinari sort of... pissed me off. Towards the end.. I'm a bit apathetic towards him, like, I'll remember him but it's only because he's a sort of vital character. Nothing against the actor, I don't really know who Kaname Jun is anyways but Yukinari just... seemed.. he wasn't a very interesting character in my opinion. But I liked him enough, he had his interesting scenes (pole hugging anyone? =P) but.. yeah. Great acting though. (I tried to redeem myself!)

Hayashi George (Omi Toshinori): George-san! Awesome. Wonderful. Perfect =D I like this actor in Tiger and Dragon to. (^_^) Although George is only a side-character I really enjoyed him mostly just because he was funny and his background reactions to things were so over-exaggerated. The actor does this sort of stuff really well. I was really happy that George appeared in the last episode (even if apparently he wasn't...?)

Hagimura Shinji (Shitara Osamu): Er.. he was... sort of annoying in the beginning. Like. During the drinking scenes with Kashiwabara. I've seen him on VS Arashi - he's the bananaman dude right? Um. Yeah. Hagi-san... he's... alright? Didn't really leave an impression on me.

Togami Masayuki (Emoto Akira): Again, not much of a real impression. I ... really don't have anything to say about him actually (^^;;)

Kashiwabara Yasutaka (Miura Tomokazu): Ah... sneaky, evil, detective. >_> He hurt Nino Koichi so badly. *grumbles* I think he played Kashiwabara pretty well, I enjoyed his acting and at the end I had to pity him a bit. I mean.. he's already pretty beat down with guilt, ready to die and he is forced to live via Koichi. Torture ne? Eh.. the acting? Well, I dunno, I mean... it was good but nothing to give rave reviews about.

Takayama Hisanbou (Kiritani Kenta): I... LOVE THIS GUY! Hilarious, everything about him. He's also in Tiger and Dragon. Really, Kiritani Kenta... wonderful actor. His exaggerated expressions and narrations and what not. Seriously in the last episode I was SO happy to see him. Just... every scene with him is hilarious. At first I didn't get what was so special, but as the Takayama scenes continued I fell more and more in love with his character and of course, Kenta's awesome exaggerated acting skills xD

Sagi (Nakashima Mika): I didn't really get the point of Sagi, but does that mean I dislike her? No. In fact I lke Sagi's character a lot, just because she's interesting and I found her interesting to watch. She made me smile and laugh honestly. The last scene in the last episode with her makes me smile, I really wish they actually showed a definite scene with KoichixSagi as a couple just cause, it'd be interesting and I really want it to happen xD

Storyline/Plot

Episode 1
The opening. Hilarious. I love this episode. It starts out quite seriously of course, I mean with the murder of two people but... then, it spirals off into just ... complete hilarity. What with the whole "Post-It's?!" and then "CONDOMS!!" , I re-watched this episode... about 3 times the week it came out. To novel-fans they might not like it because.. hey, you'd expect a right out "suspense, suspense suspense" like Maou right? But with this first episode it wasn't like that at all and in a way I'm glad. This swindling scene was pretty sweet and creative, if not a bit weird as well.

Episode 2
Start off with the three siblings wanting to scam Takayama and then we head off deeper into "solving the case". The chidlren scenes were so sweet and touching, and.. *sigh*. When lilKoichi was tell lilShizuna that their parents were dead, it was just like.. "aww.. you poor things..." the children, I must add, are pretty good actors ne? In this episode we are also introduced to Togami Yukinari, scenes with him were interesting and pretty funny, even if (IMO) his character a bit annoying. By the end, the "scamming Takayama" scenerio has started, get ready for a lot of laughs.

Episode 3
A start of with the continuation of Takayama. We get to laugh hard at his delusions and what not and it's over (not), then we move back into "solving the case". We learn a bit more about Koichi's parents, their debts and what not and Shizuna gets depressed cause she didn't realize her parents were gamblers and that their family had so many money problems. The children scene in this episode is the best. It's really really wonderful, how they mix in the kids and the adults. You really had to see for yourself to understand, first you have lilKoichi comforting lilShizuna and then it just suddenly changes to Koichi and Shizuna and... oh.. I loved it. By the end of this episode the plan to scam Yukinari has started and we also get a glimpse of Yukinari's dad, Togami Masayuki. If you're observant, you'll realize.. he looks a bit familiar ne?

Episode 4
We start off again with the continuation of trying to scam Yukinari and it's all pretty nice but once you've seen Takayama, nothing adds up to that. Sagi finally says some lines and helps Koichi out with this scam, in which you are hinted that SagixKoichi will come up (even if you have to squint to see it). At this point, the three siblings are pretending that they don't contact each other so Koichi sees Kashiwabara and they have a chat about Shizuna. We continue on a childhood friend of Shizuna wants the three siblings to scam someone she's having an affair with and they agree, so we cut to a very small swindling scene, which isn't all that interesting. Then we reach the end, Shizuna is at Togami-tei trying their Hayashi Rice and what's this? She cries because the taste it so familiar and then *duhduhduh...* - Taisuke recognizes Togami Masayuki as the "killer"! -end

Episode 5
The three siblings discuss about Togami Masayuki and Koichi goes to try out the famous "Hayashi Rice" itself to see if it's the same. Takayama comes back for the final scene (again not) and Shizuna and Yukinari's relationship just keeps moving on forward. Koichi and Taisuke need to find some evidence that Masayuki is the killer and they discuss that where as Shizuna finds herself pooring out a story about why she cried while eating the hayashi rice. Oh also, Kashiwabara starts getting closer to Taisuke (this is significant to the plot =D) and Yukinari mentions Shizuna's story about the "familiar Hayashi Rice she had as a kid" , look at Masayuki's face, he looks uncomfortable ne? highly suspicious!! Oh and even more suspense, at the very end, Shizuna's biological dad's wife walks in and tells Koichi that her husband is the killer! WHAT?!

Episode 6
We start of with Shizuna's dad's wife telling Koichi why her husband is the killer but at the same time, Shizuna's dad tells Kashiwabara why he isn't the killer and we realize that Masayuki is definitly suspect #1. Shizuna tries very hard to hint to Yukinari that his dads Hayashi rice isn't his, but the guy totally doesn't get it. Koichi and Taisuke continue struggling to find a way to find hard proof that Masayuki is the killer. Yukinari is told he is not allowed to re-create his dad's Hayashi Rice so he tries to make his own, using Shii as a test subject and waiting for her to cry.. in Koichi's kitchen. (hilarity ensues) and... halfway through this episode, Shizuna learns that she is not actually related to Koichi and Taisuke. It's also here that we realize that both of them probably harbour a bit more than brotherly feelings for Shizuna. Shizuna gets all depressed and finds herself pouring out her story (although a bit changed) to Yukinari. By the end though, Shizuna gets over the whole "shock", we learn a bit more about Koichi's dad and his relationship with Togami Masayuki (ie - why Togami would kill daddy Ariake) and then a plan arrives in Koichi's head as to how to frame Masayuki and show that he is the killer.

Episode 7
The entire episode is basically putting down fake evidence so the cops will be lead to Togami Masayuki and the development of Shizuna and Yukinari's relationship. Koichi tells Shizuna that she's off to Canada, but before she goes she kisses him *gasp* - oh no! She fell in love (although she vehemently denies it). We see a bit more of Sagi in here with her crazy driving skills which = awesome. At the end, the final part fo Koichi's plan to drive Masayuki into jail is told and Koichi wants Shizuna to go to Yukinari's house and plant the Ariake recipe book somewhere. How will Shizuna do this?! (o_o)

Episode 8
The cops close in on Togami Masayuki and start investigating him, entering his house and what-not and Yukinari is all depressed and is gushing to Koichi (which he does a lot, I just don't mention it) and then suddenly - eh? Didn't Koichi say his parents were killed and he lived in Yokosuka? Yukinari makes a connection, but Nino's Koichi's awesome lying skills cover everything up. We see a small bit of Takayama (yay!) in this episode again *insert laugh here* and then we move on with the plot. What luck! Shizuna is invited to Yukinari's home, she has a great time, plants the book somewhere and leaves feeling awfully depressed, things seem to be going great! And then.. we hit the end of the episode. Shizuna is asked to meet Yukinari... will he propose? Nope, he takes out the Ariake recipe book - oh shit. (By the way, Taisuke and Koichi followed Shizuna to the meeting cause she wasn't supposed to see him anymore so they're like oh shit as well).

Episode 9
If you thought that Yukinari taking out the recipe book was bad. It gets worse. Takayama recognizes Shizuna and confusion ensues. Yukinari takes care of it swiftly and quickly and then proceeds to "interogate" Shizuna although it all ends pretty fast as she pours everything out and Yukinari is like "zomgwtf maji ka?" while Koichi and Taisuke can just wait. Later Koichi angsts at what is going to happen and then he has a meeting with Kashiwabara to ask for help to stop Masayuki and then he meets Yukinari and reveals himself as Ariake Koichi and tells him everything. Yukinari, surprisingly, agrees to work with Koichi to bring his father out (good) and Koichi starts "acting" for the first time *yay* Everything comes down... we've got Masayuki cornered and then... - wait what? Masayuki isn't the killer? LIES!! (watch someones reaction when this is said *winks*)

Episode 10
Final Episode. Dramatic Episode. Touching Episode. Loved it. We finally learn who the real killer is. Kashiwabara. The entire episode is basically just to explain why and what happens later. Kashiwabara killed the Ariake parents for money for his sons surgery. Lots of tears and confessing and in the end, Kashiwabara is allowed to live (torture cause he wanted to kill himself but Koichi wouldn't allow it). After all this, Koichi confesses himself as a swindler and goes to jail for two years while Taisuke had to do some community service or something. Shizuna was let of easy thanks to her brothers and Yukinari (they become engaged =D). Oh, and might I add we get a very, final scene with Takayama in which I laughed incredibaly hard at just because I was glad to see him again, one last time? xD Hilarious, love this guy. The very, very end shows a sweet scene of the re-opening of Ariake with Koichi as the head chef, with Shizuna and Sagi (aww...) working as waitresses.

Music

Beautiful Days - Arashi: If I said I didn't like this song I'd be shot. =P Hey, it's an Arashi song, I'm bound to love it yes? As RnK's theme song, I also love it. It fits the drama very well in my opinion and the video that shows along with the theme song is so sweet. I seriously loved watching the opening. Beautiful Days would go right after Truth for best single this year.

ORION - Nakashima Mika: At first.. I was very apathetic to this song but like any other song in a drama or anime, once you are forced to hear it every episode, you fall in love with it, or at least grow to like it. For me, it was the first case, I seriously love this song now and listen to it all the time. It's such a lovely song *hugs* Nakashima Mika is a very awesome singer and the parts where they inserted this song fit very well. I especially loved that scene in the drama where Sagi herself was singing the song cause it was just sweet.

Overall Mark

Overall this was a very good drama and I enjoyed it a lot. Really, it takes a lot for me to enjoy a drama this much. Unliked some people, I really actually don't enjoy watching dramas. Just because an Arashi member is in a drama doesn't mean I'll like it, Maou is my prime example. I really didn't like it that much. (^^;;) It was a good drama I'll admit, but it didn't suit my tastes. So... basically for me to enjoy Ryuusei no Kizuna from start to finish episode 1 - 10 without getting bored, tired and without skipping anything, it goes to show this drama is pretty good. I enjoyed the comedy, the seriousness and.. well.. the drama. Although.. it doesn't really sit at the top like HanaDan (meaning I probably won't re-watch it 5 times =P) but.. hey, some time down the road I might re-watch it again. One thing for sure though, I'm definitly not deleting it off my hard-drive.

4.5/5

Beautiful Days

I know.. I'm a bit late in posting my review on this single, but I will now. Bottom line.. I like it.

 

Beautiful Days

 

Beautiful Days is the theme song to Nino's drama (which I love so much) Ryuusei no Kizuna and I really love this song. I often like "theme songs" so it's no doubt that I like this. Honestly, once I learn a song is the theme song to something I love it. Example Jidai wasn't really my style but when I heard it as the theme song to Kindaichi Shonen no Jikenbou 3.. instant love.

But my love for this song isn't completely biased. It's a good song and it's pretty soft and mellow but in a way gives you this sense of hope. It's not incredibly cheerful like Kitto Daijoubu but it's a beautiful song and I really recommend listening to this song (even though everyone probably has already).

The PV for this song was also beautiful and fit the song SO well. I love the PV. It's so mellow and sort of dark-ish (it's pretty dark compared to other Arashi PV's except Truth) but it does give you this sort of "Hope" sort of feeling and I really enjoy watching the PV. It's really wonderful and I love Arashi so much.

 

Boku ga boku no subete

I haven't really listened to this song much, been listening to Beautiful Days and Wasurerarenai which I both heard previews of but for Boku no boku no subete I didn't hear a preview so I had no idea what the song was like and I already liked the other songs so much that I have honestly neglected this song, not to say it's bad. At first I didn't really like the song, not to say I disliked it but it didn't really leave much of an impression on me... but... I seem to have some THING with certain Arashi songs where after I listen to them for a while I will eventually begin to like them (like Re(Mark)able). So, now I actually like this song MORE than Wasurerarenai

 

Wasurerarenai

I love this song. So much. I've replayed this song so much it's not even funny. It's got a fast enough pace to keep we awake and entertained but it's slow enough to sound calming and peaceful. I could really listen to this song forever if I wanted to. When the song hadn't come out, I only had a version ripped of Baystorm and I would listen to it so much it wasn't even funny. Now that I have the actual single edtion I've slowly stopped listening to it (probably cause I've played it so much).

It's a really good song though, like... after listening to both Beautiful Days and Boku ga boku no subete there is this feeling I get, like I want a bit more and Wasurerarenai fills up that want.

This entire single in general is a great package. All the songs mesh together wonderfully and the order they're put in really makes you feel just great.

I highly recommend buying this single (even though I haven't... =_=;;) but that is due to personal family reasons so please, if you can, buy the single and support our stormy boys!

BONUS PICTURE

Vlcsnap-6394197

does Ohno not just look ADORABLE? This is from the latest Music Station Minisute - Nov.7.2008

 

Mago Mago Boat Club

I'm sure all Arashi fans have watched the Mago Mago Boat Club saga before. It was one of the videos that dragged me into becoming an Arashi fan. Overall it was a very touching series and lately I've been re-watching it and decided to write a bit of a review on it since I have so many thoughts running around my head as I watch. (Warning - incredibally long post)

I am sorry I won't post screencaps. (>_<;;)

Overall... it's a very touching thing to watch. They really devoted their time into forfilling Hikaru-san's dream. It's very admirable. In fact, I admire all of them very much. Rowing is not an easy sport to do and they spend an entire two months learning. I don't know much about rowing as I've never done it, but from what I saw, they did pretty good for 5 idols who only trained for two months. And, since when do you ever see idols doing anything such as what Arashi did? Learning how to row? Devoting their time just for an old man? It's something not even a normal citizen would probably do, and yet they did it and worked hard on it.

As I re-watched this, I also was reminded about WHY I love Arashi so much. Not that I forgot about their strong bond, but in watching this I was able to see their full strength right in my eyes as well as learn about each of them individually. Of course parts of this segment were probably exaggerated but in general, their true natures would come out. Before I get into "how close they are" I want to talk about each member individually first.

Ohno - Our dear leader: He may not seem like a leader, he may not act like one, but in watching MMA: Boat Club you can definitly see why the other members see him as their leader. Overtime he had gradually fallen into some sort of "leader" role even though it seems like he does nothing, as a leader Ohno does lots. I couldn't stop smiling when he proposed helping Hikaru-san with his dream. It was a very sweet thing to do and over the course of the two months, although he was extremely busy, instead of worrying about himself he worried more about the other 4. Honestly, Ohno was the one pulling all the ther 4 members through everything. I've concluded that if people EVER doubt Ohno's "leader" capabilities, they should watch MMA and see, he is a perfectly fine leader.

Sho-kun - Keio Boy!: Sho. He's really a nice guy and you can tell that overall he REALLY wanted to win. He really tried his best and I think out of the 5 he was the most frustrated yes he was mature about it and didn't blow his "problems" out of proportion. I admire his work-ethic and in a way this is where you can see Sho being absolutely serious about something and working hard for it. Also, I am happy that I was able to see the truly mature side of Sho, it's breath of fresh air compared to how dorky he can be during Arashi's other shows.

Aiba-chan - Hyperactive kid: Aiba, Aiba, Aiba. What can I say? A lot of times, we just see Aiba as the "baka" of the group, but of course we know that Aiba isn't actually stupid. In this saga, although we still see the "baka" side of Aiba we also get to see the side of him that is serious. That adult side of him that we rarely (basically never) get to see anytime else. Like the other members, he really wanted to help Hikaru-san out but in the beginning you get to see his serious-ness of the situation. He practiced hard and although he had the slight problem, he resolved it quickly and bounced right back into position. It's not something a lot of people can do.

Ninomiya Kazunari - The Sarcastic Brat: Nino. Just knowing his position as the cox really tells you about his personality. He's good at being a support, he's good at watching over the group and helping them. He's also good at planning out strategies. Due to his hand injury during his junior years he couldn't exactly row but he made up for it for his excellent skills as the coxswain. Although reluctlant at first, when Nino got into it, he really put his whole into it and picked up the skills very quickly. I've always admired Nino in how when he puts his mind to something he'll do it his best at it (or try to) and you can sort of see that.

Matsumoto Jun - The Prissy Princess: MatsuJun. I always say I'm a lot like MatsuJun. You see a lot of his personality in this. I know lots of people thought that him blowing up and walking away was stupid (even me) but I think the problem was Jun expects too much of himself. In a way you see a "childness" in him, in which when he's stuck in a hole, instead of finding a way out (like the other members) he digs himself in deeper because of his own personality. It's not necassarily that's he "immature" but it's more his frustrations about himself. He really wanted to do his best, and the problem is he didn't know how he was doing, good, bad. MatsuJun's a guy who needs praise, who needs someone saying he's doing fine because he's a perfectionist and he needs to know he's doing his best.

Okay, now, done with all the members. Now I want to talk about their bond. You really get to see it, how close they all our even during 2005. Watching the summer camp thing was fun and when Nino, Aiba, Sho and Jun were getting taught by Hikaru-san about the basics of rowing (ep.23) I loved how Nino pointed out some girls rowing and all four of them stood up to stare. In general though, the smiles, the laughs, even the jokes and you can sort of tell in the beginning they're all a bit uncomfortable about the idea of "regular" positions. It was also incredibly sweet when Ohno decided to practice after his stageplay and he told the members to go home but they all stayed to wait for him (ep.30). Also as a group they really finished the rowing competition. They didn't give up and all of them (ALL OF THEM) gave their all. Even when some people were having hissy-fits *cough* none of them ever really "gave up" although the thought came up they all realized, they can't. Stopping wasn't an option. Even if they had worked as "Arashi" for 6 years, only a group with a strong bond could have done something such as what the Arashi members did.

My review was sort of bad. I'm sorry, my thoughts are so jumbled that I can't really express what I'm thinking. (=_=;;) But.. I just want to say I feel really touched as I watched and it really makes me think, deep down from the bottom of my heart, I really love these guys  a lot.. because.. honestly, doing what they did was a great thing. It deserves respect and admiration.

I am glad to have a group like Arashi in my life. (^_^)
 

Nino's Letter

Ah... I watched it, subbed by yuckie-chan over at LJ. ^_^

It was very touching, I teared up just like I did while watching Aiba's letter. (takes a lot to get me crying =P).

After watching this video I came to the conclusion that, if I honestly ever wanted to show/tell someone why I loved Arashi so much, I would show them this video and my answer would be... "Have you ever seen a group so close together that when they express their words about each the audience ends up crying?". And remember, I'm answering honestly here. It's seen very well in Aiba's letter and in Nino's letter that these 5 guys are really as close as they seem. It's really what makes me enjoy watching them on screen. I mean, at first I thought they were funny, but I realized I couldn't get into ANY OTHER Johnny's band such as NewS or KAT-TUN. Not to say the other groups aren't close together but... they are nowhere near the bond that Arashi is and I think that's why I can't into any other band, there is something distinctively missing, and that is the friendship.

My review on the letter...

it was touching. Very touching. It was a very well thought-out and written letter which did a great job in expressing what Nino though. I can sympthasize with MatsuJun and I can relate to how he would react. I'm not saying I know Nino at all, but just from watching him on screen it's quite easy to tell that he doesn't really show his thoughts and he is very good at keeping his personal life out of his work. Nino never seemed like a guy who would speak his thoughts out unless he was prompted and I think this letter was the prompt that enabled Nino to say such words. 

MatsuJun and Aiba seriously looked like they wanted to just start crying, Ohno did to. Sho didn't cry during Aiba's letter either but you can tell he treats these situations in a very professional manner, and he was probably incredibally touched as well.

Just listening to that letter though, and watching the 5 on screen, in that one short clip you could sort of tell how much they had changed in four years. I'm very proud of them ^_^ I hope they keep rising higher, after all, you shouldn't just stop after reaching the top, but you should aim higher.

My review on 24HrTV in General...

I didn't watch all of it, in fact I missed basically all of it (well the parts starring Arashi members) except for MatsuJun's drama and the dance performance. If I were to watch anything I would've been staying up 48hours and I wasn't to up for it, school was just about to start and I really should be catching up on lost sleep, not losing even more hours.

MatsuJun's drama was... (from the middle to the end) was alright. Again, it was touching. Very sweet. The ending was sweet. The acting wasn't superbly great, but all actors did quite a good job and I thought MatsuJun with the little girl was incredibly cute. It's quite hard to act as a person suffering a disease, especially when you have to act out falling randomly and not being able to use your limbs which can be quite a challenge. I compliment MatsuJun in his effort, he did a pretty good job (not saying I'm a professional at this stuff myself, hell I don't know anything about acting =P).

I had to admit, the part with MatsuJun's chubby cheeks had me laughing my ass off for the longest time. I couldn't stop, what a way to make the guy look ugly.

About the Dance Performance... that... was... SO COOL. I myself am too afriad to even attemp to do simple things like handstands/carthwheels so watching that group of guys (the ill abilities I believe) do all that stuff, and with Arashi really amazed me. The guy with the short legs has a incredibally STRONG upper body. I was literally just going "omg, omg, omg awesome, awesome, awsome!" the entire time while watching that segment.

I wish I could've seen more (and I would download but I'm currently downloading the Johnny's Countdowns and I don't want to slow up my internet even more than I should xD) but alas... it all happened to late. It was good though.

Again, I'm proud of Arashi and wish them well for the next year.