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Best-of Albums, Remix, etc., July to Dec. December 3, 2009

Filed under: ~Special Reviews~ — solarblade @ 11:27 pm

Here’s the other 6 months of releases that were filled with best-ofs, concepts…and other releases!  Once again, doing this by chronological release!, If you missed out on the first post you can find it HERE

JULY

Yui Sakakibara – LOVE×singles

Beginning the 2nd half of the year, Yui Sakakibara released this “best-of”.  It is a compilation of some of her early releases because most of the songs are really cute and not my thing.  Even worse, was that she included instrumentals of all the songs on the same disc.  Not the best idea ever, but I guess it deems good.  Still not my kind my cup of tea.

fripSide – nao complete anthology 2002-2009 -my graduation-

Since the then lead singer of the duo nao, was “graduating” I guess fripSide decided to throw this out to fans.  Basically it’s a complete best-of with 10 discs from the albums to 3 discs containing unreleased stuff to shock fans with.  Even the NAO! PROJECT was included.  Pretty great release, isn’t it?

Hitomi Shimatani – BEST & COVERS

Hitomi isn’t really having a great year (since it’s her 10th anniversary).  She released this mid-year after “SMILES”.  The BEST includes most of the A-sides that were released from “Viola” to “SMILES”.  However, most people will go immediatly to the COVERS disc.  Some of the songs were previously released (blech “Amairo no Kami no Otome”).  and some of them are old, but now finally released.  There was even two new cover songs, “Nagai Aida” & “Shiroi Chou no Samba”.  It depends on if you were a big fan of Hitomi’s to buy it…I think it’s worth it because of the many PV’s that are included.

AUGUST

capsule – FLASH BEST

It took Nakata 10 albums to finally release their first best-of album…Way too long IMO.  Anyway FLASH BEST chronicles all the songs from “L.D.K. Lounge Designers Killer” to “MORE! MORE! MORE!”.  Basically, it has the songs that got capsule to electro awesomeness they are today.  While I think it would’ve been nice to go back farther and include the A-side at least, this release isn’t too bad.  A few new rearrangements of songs (the first four tracks).  Still, it’s great for electro lovers.

SEPTEMBER

Ayaka Hirahara – my Classics!

Released first in September, Ayaka released this concept album which can be classified as a half-best as too because well half the songs are oldies like “Jupiter” (her biggest song), and “Campanula no Koi”.  On the other side of the coin, we have new songs, but the main idea was that the songs had melodies from really old composers.  It’s a mixed bag for me and I just passed it over since it wasn’t really important to review

Crystal Kay – BEST of CRYSTAL KAY

While I’ve said a million times that I’m not a huge Kuri fan, this release was just overkill.  BEST of CRYSTAL KAY is clearly a best-of.  Even though it doesn’t include all of her A-sides…(where’s Shadows of Desire?) and includes a few album tracks it’s not a bad choice of songs and there’s many to cater to Kuri fans as well.  As a surprise there was a 3rd CD that featured new songs from Kuri, most were collaborations.  It’s definitely one of the bigger releases of the year.

Mai Kuraki – ALL MY BEST

Though, biggest release has to go to Mai-K this year.  Not only is this a 2 disc best-of, she released this in TEN different ways.  I don’t know how you get away with releasing this in that many formats but w/e she got #1 on Oricon because of it.  Now it isn’t a full collection of her A-sides (since she decided to ignore most of the “FUSE OF LOVE” singles…and there’s a few album tracks here as well as a new song, “Watashi no, Shiranai, Watashi.  Good release, but it’s definitely titled wrong…it should be “MOST OF MY BEST, PLUS SOME OTHER SONGS I DID”.

ayaka – ayaka’s History 2006-2009

Since ayaka *died* I mean is taking a break from music…well not yet, but she will be, ayaka released this whopper on us.  The first disc contains all of her A-sides, her collaborations with Kobukuro and the digital release for “For today”.  If that wasn’t enough, the 2nd disc was a fan based best-of which is basically filled with album tracks and a new arrangement of her last single “Minna Sora no Shita”.  It’s a great collection and the PV’s are also here as well. 

mihimaru GT – The Best Selection of ASIA

While this was released simultaneously with “Un♥Lock” I really didn’t understand this release at all.  They released their first one about 2 years ago and this release feature more than half the songs that were on their first one here.  This best-of is like a pick and choose from their debut “Yakusoku” to “Girigiri HERO”.  It’s such a strange collection and there were Chinese and Korean versions of their biggest song “Kibun Joujou↑↑”  Nice, but was it really needed?

OCTOBER

Diggy-MO’ – WHO THE Fxxx IS JUVE? + Remixies

Yeah, this is a DVD tour of Diggy-MO’s tour for his Diggyism album and the singles released afterwards.  Point of it was though was that this release came with a remix CD that featured 5 songs remixes.  I didn’t get to this release, but remixes are usually bad and with Diggy’s vocals being as whack as they are, they’re probably bad remixes.

Morning Musume – Morning Musume Zen Single Coupling Collection

Another big release, Morning Musume finally released a B-side collection which featured EVERY B-side they released.  There wasn’t anything new here, but it was great to finally have all the songs collected into one huge collection of songs.  It even has all of the members on it as well, old and new…It’s a great pickup if you wanna hear how much the group has grown since their debut.

abingdon boys school – Teaching Materials

Really?  I guess I can’t blame them for making this move.  To most JPN fans, this can be classified as a best-of, but to Europeans some will think of it as a regular album.  The tracks here are of all the A-sides to B-sides from every single they released so far.  The only track missing though is “STEALTH -Reigoushiki JAP-” because that’s just an English redub of “JAP”.  It could’ve been a bonus track but w/e not a big loss…Otherwise, it’s a good album to start with a.b.s, I just wouldn’t recommend it if you’re already a fan though.

NOVEMBER

FLOW – Coupling Collection

Another B-side collection of the year, FLOW asked the fans to pick out the best ones and they would stick it on here.  I mean sweet “ESCA” and “RISING DRAGON” are on here!  It’s definitely got its high points and having 4 bonus tracks makes it even better.  It’s an interesting album, though wasn’t as exciting as the other best-ofs (but that’s just cuz I don’t know many FLOW songs to begin with).

Ai Otsuka – LOVE is BEST

Why did Ai release another best-of only two years after “Ai am BEST”?  At least this one doesn’t scroll down the A-sides like the first best did.  This one was more of a concept album since all of the songs featured a love feel to it.  You’ll see a mixture of A-sides, B-sides, album tracks.  She even threw in 4 rearranged songs including “aisu×time” and a new song, Is.  I guess she’s just tying us over until her next release…oh wait she did release “LOVE.IT” under her bunny moniker…w/e.

DECEMBER

UVERworld – Neo SOUND BEST

UVERworld finally releases their first of two best-ofs, first being Neo SOUND BEST.  It features most of the A-sides, a few B’s. and a few album tracks.  While there isn’t new songs to point out, they snuck in “D-tecnoRize” which is a song they did when they were known as Sangoku Road and new versions of “CHANCE!” and “Yasashisa no Shizuku”.  Interesting release but the lack of “GO-ON” and “endscape” made me frown hardcore.

Crystal Kay – THE BEST REMIXES of CK

Pass, We all know remix album fail to make anything better and by the tracklist alone makes me shudder altogether.  There’s a mix of new and old found here like Genki Rockets version of “Koi no Ochitara” and “ONE (CORNELIUS REMIX)”.  I don’t know how it’ll go, but I’m prolly not gonna enjoy it much.

Rina Aiuchi – ALL SINGLES BEST ~THANX 10th ANNIVERSARY~

I think this was long over due.  5 albums since her last best-of Rina releases a full A-side best-of.  It features every single A-side she’s released since her debut and spans 3 CDs.  It even includes a new song, “GIFT” which is great and all, but her music as of recent has been less than stellar, so I’m sure that some fans will prolly pass it over.

KOTOKO – ANIME’S COMPILATION BEST

Ending this year of crazy best-ofs, KOTOKO releases her first best-of comprising of her better anime tie-in songs.  It includes favorites like, “Re-sublimity”, “Chercher”, and “BLAZE”.  Sadly, a few of the tracks like that last one was just on her last studio album, “Epsilon no Fune” so it’s a little disappointing.  Still good tracks IMO.

 

 

PHEW, I’m finally done.  Look at all those releases in the year.  Crazy eh?  Well, coming up on the lookback of 2009, I’ll be going through the debutees of the year ^_^

 

Best-of Albums, Remix, etc., Jan. to June November 25, 2009

Filed under: ~Special Reviews~ — solarblade @ 7:20 pm

So while it’s close to the end of the year, I thought I’d go through and review the albums that I didn’t do this year, starting chronologically of course

FEBRUARY

Tommy february6 – Strawberry Cream Soda Pop “Daydream”

Well, the first best-of on my site was the simultaneous release of Tomoko’s solo projects.  The first is Tommy February6′s best-of album which featured all the singles “EVERYDAY AT THE BUS STOP” to “♥Lonely in Gorgeous♥”.  After that there’s a hodge-podge of album tracks included which is strange because some of them would have not made it on IMO…where’s “ThE RoSe fraGranCe”?.  Anyways, at the end of the album, there’s a brand spanking new track which is aptly titled “◯Strawberry●Cream◯Soda●Pop◯”.  I honestly wanted more new material since Tf6 has been off the radar for a long time, so I was disappointed in the fact there was one new song.  Still it was a pretty awesome collection and the DVD with all the singles PV’s and the new tracks would make this a good buy.  BTW, why is “T.O.M.M.Y.” even on here?

Tommy Heavenly6 – Gothic Melting Ice Cream’s Darkness “Nightmare”

 

On the other side of Tomoko’s releases this actually wasn’t the final release for Th6 (remember I KILL MY HEART? *shudders*).  Anyway, this best of was dressed just like Strawberrys, y’know singles, then album tracks and then the new track “Unlimited Sky”.  I actually enjoyed this tracklist a lot more since I liked most of them to begin with, but once again more new material would’ve been nice, but at least “PAPERMOON” was released a little before, so we knew she wasn’t dead.

MARCH

AAA – AAA REMIX ~non-stop all singles~

Not soon after they released their 4th studio album, “depArture”, they decided to release this heavy release out to the fans.  Yes, it’s a remix album, but one that’s continuous through all the tracks.  While it does feature 27 tracks…it doesn’t feature all of their singles *how evil, avex*.  It doesn’t include “Climax Jump” or “Izayuke Wakataka Gundan 2007″.  While I mostly don’t enjoy remix albums, I liked the idea of linking all the tracks together.

Mika Nakashima – NO MORE RULES.

After “VOICE” Mika announced something…while we spent the rest of 2008 trying to figure out what the hell she was releasing, NO MORE RULES. turned out to be a compilation of the songs Mika sang for KANEBO (makeup company).  Honestly, since the tracklist is chronological with the exception of albums lone new song, “GAME” it feels more like a best-of.  It’s a pretty good collection of songs, and would make a good album to start with Mika.

Gackt – SLO-PACHINKO GLADIATOR EVOLUTION OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK

Before the mess of releasing a bajillion singles started happening, Gackt quietly released this little ditty between “GHOST” and “Journey through the Decade”.  Now, it seems that this release was just only sold at the places that had the pachinko game.  A good portion of the songs were rearranged to fit the game better but songs like “Jesus” were kept the same.  Also, it features a new song from Gackt called “Kagerou”.  Interesting release, but damn it wasn’t really talked about alot.

Anna Tsuchiya – xxxRemixxxxxxx!!!!!!! SHOW!

Next we have Anna releasing this remix album.  While I didn’t download the album, I know that while it mostly new remixes for the songs that were from “NUDY SHOW!”, they snuck in some old ones too like “BUBBLE TRIP’s”, “Crazy World’s”, and “Virgin Cat’s”.  Besides that, everything else is new stuff. 

BoA – BEST & USA

Coming out a little before BoA’s American debut, BEST & USA was basically meant to promote this album clearly.  Now the first thing to look at was the BEST part of this release.  The tracklist is all over the place, but it does feature all the A-sides from “OUTGROW’s” era to the “Eien” single.  Though it’s missing some secondary A-sides, and since Vivid didn’t have an A-side period, “Sparkling” was put in.  There was also new version of both “Meri Kuri” and “VALENTI” but they ended up both falling flat when compared to its original.  Now the USA is obviously what it is, her debut album, I’ve already reviewed that so I won’t talk about it xD

Sowelu – Sowelu THE BEST 2002-2009

Sowelu’s final release under SONY, her best-of comes in two CDs!  The first of the two has all the songs chronologically placed from her debut single, “across my heart” to “Shiawase no Chikara”.  Not that any of them were really that amazing to begin with (exception being “glisten”).  The second of the disc continues her discography to “Wish”.  Then things start getting wonky when she puts in all the songs she’s covered for the majority of the second before rounding out with her final single, “MATERIAL WORLD” & new song “AINOTE”.  It’s good for the Sowelu fans because it features all the PV’s she’s done up to “MATERIAL WORLD” plus more. 

Koda Kumi – Out Works & Collaborations Best

While this album was supposed to have been released last year, but due to Kuu’s big mouth about amniotic fluids the idea was postponed until after “TRICK” was released.  By the title, it features most if not all the collaborations Kuu did in her career and has the digital single “Get It On”.  It’s a wacky collection of songs and most of them weren’t that good to begin with.  I mean “It’s a small world”….really? 

Koda Kumi – Driving Hit’s

A Kuu remix album too?  Jeeze, girl has been releasing a lot in early 2009.  Now Driving Hit’s I guess has a concept and supposedly would fit for drivers.  The entire album actually has a bunch of new remixes.  There’s only a few old remixes, mostly from the last two eras that came before this.  Strangely enough as well, the first and last tracks weren’t remixed at all.  “Lady Go!” and “Driving” would be song I probably wouldn’t have remixed anyway.

T.M.Revolution – T.M.REVOLUTION SINGLES COLLECTION 96-99 -GENESIS-

While I wouldn’t call it a “total” best-of, this actual box-set collection of Takanori & Daisuke’s first 11 singles.  Basically “Dokusai -monopolize-” to “WILD RUSH”.  Another quiet release, but it does mean 320 capabilities right?

APRIL

miyavi – VICTORY ROAD TO THE KING OF NEO VISUAL ROCK

Before going on hiatus to deal with his new daughter that popped out of melody. vajayjay, miyavi released his best-of album which chronicles through his major label debut to his last single of his last album.  While there’s nothing new here.  Probably one of the meh, best-ofs of the year.

 

 

Here’s the all the bests released in the first half of 2009.  I’ll do the second half when the covers for a few of them appear.  Let me tell ya, it’s a big amount as well LOL

 

Perfume – GAMETOUR April 27, 2009

Filed under: ~Special Reviews~ — solarblade @ 3:31 pm
Tags: , ,

gametour

Track Listing

  1. OPENING/GAME
  2. Electro World
  3. Computer City
  4. Computer Driving
  5. MC
  6. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow
  7. Baby cruising Love
  8. Foundation
  9. Butterfly
  10. Take me Take me
  11. Secret Secret
  12. Macaroni
  13. MC
  14. Polyrhythm
  15. Chocolate Disco
  16. Perfect Star Perfect Style

ENCORE

  • Ceramic Girl
  • wonder2

1. OPENING/GAME

Well their first major tour starts off pretty brilliantly.  There’s three butterflies flying around the screen in and out of the actualy background screen which was nifty.  Then the screen whites out and you see three pairs of legs walking and the background is of the regular edition of the album which was awesome.  Then Perfume comes out and the lights flicker and they throw their coats off and go into GAME’s dance which IMO was more fierce than “Budoukans” take.  What makes this performance sweet, is the fact their are in their album’s outfits so that’s nifty.  Like I said though, the girls are much energetic in this tune and was a great opening to the tour.

opening1

game1

2. Electro World

Giving the girls time to put the lightsabers up, they use the album version of Electro World to start up.  I’ll say it, the “Budoukan” performance was a lot more exciting than GAMETOUR’s performance.  I mean the back screen isn’t all flashy and colorful, then again the former has a lot more things to work with.  The crowd was very enthusiastic though.  They were chanting throughout.

3. Computer City

Immediatly when Electro World ends they go into Computer City.  I thought that was pretty cool that they didn’t take a small break, but nope they didn’t.  At least they go through the entire track.  Nothing really spectacular stood out from this performance.

4. Computer Driving

Fitting to put a similar titled track next to each other.  I’m not too fond of the performance, but the crowd seemed so because they were more into it than “Electro World”.  It’s cool to hear them sing/sing here and everyone sounds good without the vocoder helping out.  It does kind of sound out of place because the previous tracks were vocoder-love so this was a nice addition.  The dance is more like an idol’s way of dancing, but it’ll pass.

5. MC

Right, so as usual it’s the introductory speech…yeah I said it on the last DVD review so I’m not even gonna go there.  Other than that it’s basically just like Budokan’s gettung the crowd more pumped up.

6. Twinkle Snow Powdery Snow

The butterflies return and they look like they are sprinkling snow on the screen which was a cool way to start things up.  Beyond that, nothing too special about the performance.  It’s definitly a bouncy dance routine though and the girls looked really happy in this performance.  Near the end, I’m guessing the editor threw in some snow effect to makes things look good.  Random, but cool.

7. Baby cruising Love

I’m gonna say that this tour is actually a lot less flashy than the 2nd DVD.  They are dancing pretty cute and I don’t see any signs of fatigue and least that’s not obvious.  Meh, OK performance…but nothing we haven’t seen.

bcl

8. Foundation

Foundation to me has always been an odd track to perform because it’s so chill and laidback.  Unlike their upcoming track they’re going to perform, they are actually dancing with the microphone/microphone stands and around them which is nifty, but the dance is like…I can do that easily. 

9. Butterfly

It’s not a performance persay, but like a lengthy interlude.  So of course this little light show consisted with the butterflies flying through time perhaps?  I don’t know but it’s colorful.  Once again the editor decided to make the home viewers interested by adding butterflies that look like they aren’t on the screen. 

10. Take me Take me

I’m pretty sure there was a lot of work prepping up for this performance.  It als ogave the girls some time to wind down for a little bit and get a costume change.  Honestly, I don’t like the floral clothing much and that was a bad part of the concert.  Now the most noticeable about this was the crystal-like lights surronding the stage behind the girls.  They were a factor here and looked so cool with the girls dancing sexy-like.  Made it look pretty classy IMO.  Actually the blue and red lights were like omg “One Room Disco” cover xD

11. Secret Secret

Meh, just like “Budoukan’s” minus the mannequin appearances.  The crystals were still giving off light, but other than that it was pretty much the same thing as the later DVD

12. Macaroni

Macaroni oddly pops up next and I kind of liked this performance more because while they were singing the 3 versions of the video were playing in the background and I’ve always like the PV because it wasn’t synthetic, it was so real life. 

macaroni1

13. MC

Another MC occurs and well it’s about time.  The girls really get their giggles on here.  They also manage to say some things to some of the audience.  The girls to me are still pretty energetic…HOW SURPRISING!

14. Polyrhythm

I know they’ve shown this on SpaceStation which is pretty cool.  What’s up with that cheezy sparkle graphic at the beginning though…that was just bad right there.  I liked this performance moreso than “Budoukan’s” because you couldn’t the girls were even tired at all and their dancing was still spot on.  Definitly amazing.

15. Chocolate Disco

It’s definitly not as flashy.  I swear A-chan loves this track to death because she yells out disco a lot (she did this as well on Budoukan).  It’s still awkward seeing the stirring the pot move and back screen looks like “plastic smile”….You gotta be like WTF is this.

disco

16. Perfect Star Perfect Style

Meh, it’s not as good as it was after Secret Secret because that was so shocking.  I don’t know why but I felt like the crowd wasn’t as in the mood to the hand moves as much as the people of “Budoukan” did.  I was like….did the crowd die?  Still a good performance and I love the track.

17. ENCORE MC

So they come out and reveal that they’re basically in street clothes xD  Anyway it’s their final one and they don’t get emotional, but they get the crowd to sing a little bit of “Ceramic Girl” which was pretty cute.  Don’t get me wrong it was the cutest thing of the DVD for sure. 

mc1

18. Ceramic Girl

Why did they have to have this song as an encore?  I love the girls still showing a lot of energy and their happy smiles fuled the song well.  The crowd was doing some singing as well. 

19. wonder2

Once again wonder2 ends the concert off and unlike the “Budoukan” performance, this was the cake that kind of blew up and surprised the girls.  The instrumental begins and you see READY, GO!!! and then you see everyone in the audience hold up a glow stick and then A-chan is crying but it was so wow.  Even Nocchi and Kashi shed a few tears.  The song was just perfect on the tour like I almost felt emotional when I heard the crowd by themselves singing the la’s at the end…Damn that was a powerful performance.

wonder21

BEST PERFORMANCES

  • wonder2
  • GAME
  • Take me Take me
  • Polyrhythm
  • Macaroni

Ok, Production-wise?  This was a bit underwhelming when put against something like “Budoukan” but I felt their energy was at top notch and I didn’t see anything of being tired and out of breath…strange.  I love how it ended here more than said DVD because it was just so powerful with the audience joining in and the glow sticks…just amazing..I think I like this a little less than the last review, but this is by no means a bad performance

 

Perfume – BudoukaaaaaaaaaaN!!!! April 26, 2009

Filed under: ~Special Reviews~ — solarblade @ 9:52 pm
Tags: , ,

budokan

Track Listing

  1. OPENING
  2. Computer City
  3. edge
  4. Electro World
  5. MC
  6. plastic smile
  7. love the world
  8. Macaroni
  9. MC
  10. Baby cruising Love
  11. Take me Take me
  12. GAME
  13. Secret Secret
  14. Perfect Star Perfect Style
  15. MC
  16. Ceramic Girl
  17. Jenny wa Gokigen Naname
  18. MC
  19. Chocolate Disco
  20. Polyrhythm
  21. Puppy love

ENCORE

  1. Dream Fighter
  2. Perfume
  3. wonder2

1. OPENING

Wow, this opening was so much more awesome than the “GAME Tour’s” opening sequence.  I’m surprised they didn’t play “Electro World” during this sequence because it’s amazing especially by their standards.  Anyway the girls come up and they look pimpin awesome and then goes into these robocop-like outfits and the seem to control some kind of ship…don’t ask me what, but it’s amazing…Then there’s a countdown and the 3 (not really) stand in the background and when it gets to zero, the background lights move towards the crowd and begins the performance off.

opening

2. Computer City

Right when the lights on the perimeter of the stage touch the real Perfume is elevated onto the stage in their Computer City poses and so begins the track.  Obviously, there’s a lot of lasers and I actually quite like how it’s used to create such an effect like a laser grid.  That was pretty nifty.  Also to notice is that the girls are wearing metallic-looking coats, which makes sense of course.  Of course this whole DVD has the best dancing they’ve done so I won’t comment on their dancing much.  As we get into the 2nd verse though things get weird.  In fact it doesn’t even get into the 2nd verse….Things start skipping and being the robotic girls they are, they break down.

3. edge

It’s so damn funny that when the lights go red and there’s electricity seen it reminds me exactly of how Gackt’s “GHOST” PV starts up….it’s really freaky.  Perfume also loses the coats to show off their first outfit which is their pink sleepwear…I’m sure I’ve seen it, but I don’t know where….”One Room Disco?”  I think this was the best performance of the DVD because the girls also use the back screen with their performance.  BTW, this is the only known live performance of edge as well.  So seeing their new ideas come to mind it was WTF+.  I mean the dancing is tight and how they did the boxed in look was freaky cool.  They don’t go through the entire song (omitted the 2nd chorus), but what they did with the rest like the boxed-in dance, the zombie wobble, the video’s monochrome look…it was just an amazing performance.

edge

4. Electro World

Usually, they use the album’s version of the song to start this off…Oddly enough they don’t and just jump right into the song.  Now the screen is more brightly colored and if you watch the chorus part…DAMN that’s a lot of light.  Other than that it’s like any other performance of the song…Graphics on the screen though were cool. 

5. MC

Our first of many pauses of the concert.  It’s the introductory speech so it’s pretty obvious that mostly it’s the ~Perfume, desu!~ and them screaming BUDOUKAAAAAAAAAAN!~ .  Sadly me a person who doesn’t speak JPN will find this so useless because I have no clue what they’re saying.  Other than A-chan pumping up the crowd.  I love her xD

6. plastic smile

To tell you the truth, plastic smile is not on the favorite’s list and sadly it doesn’t help me any on it’s live performance.  I thought the marionette opening was pretty nifty, but the dancing throughout the rest kind of looked a little lazy most of the time.  The chorus sounds pretty cool though….weird how that works…

7. love the world

Luckily we get the intricate dancing of “love the world” which makes up for the mehness of “plastic smile”.  Once again it’s nothing that we haven’t seen live before minus the big screen with “LOVE” on it.  hmmm…maybe they are getting the more boring stuff outta the way…

8. Macaroni

I think I’m right because Macaroni is the slowest track off the DVD and well putting it here gets it outta the way which is pretty good.  I don’t know how you can get a dance outta Macaroni, but somehow they did with (as well as on the GAME tour).  You can really tell the girls are starting to wear out as well.  Nocchi is sweating out there!!!!  Thinking about it now, it’s actually a good resting moment for them…even though they are still moving…

9. MC

 Now it’s the resting moment.  You can easily tell they are wiped out from all that hardcore dancing.  They mention “Chocolate Disco” early on, but I have no idea why.  They also chat with people from the audience for a little bit as well and something about BANZAI.  It’s a pretty length timeout so it gives them back their energy.

10. Baby cruising Love

So Kashiyuka sang the first line of the song…Now I know who to blame for that sour note!!  I was actually quite disappointed that they didn’t make it stand out in anyway.  Just the dance and (singing).  I would’ve loved if they played the parts from the video with the balls of light they were using.  That would’ve been cool.  Other words….basic performance.

11. Take me Take me

I loved the GAME tour performance and well…this kind of was less liked.  I mean it’s the same thing, but the GAME tour had those lights in the background that made it stand out, which this one doesn’t have.  Still it’s their sexiest song in their repetoire and using that in their dancing made it stand out.  Even the lone seats did them good as they used them.  Plus they look so damn hot here.

12. GAME

Talk about being shafted.  Remember GAME started out their last live DVD and what a banging performance that was.  Well, it got backslapped on this one.  I mean of course GAME had it’s opening sequence cut out, and the background is based in castle-like area instead of portraying itself like the cover of said album.  The lightsabers are still intact and the girls dancing is still there albeit a little less fierce because it’s mid-show.  The lasers though looked amazing though, even better than the last tours. BTW, they also had a costume change…though it’s nothing to be surprised…instead of pink…they went white.

game

13. Secret Secret

Unlike GAME which gotten a downgrade, Secret Secret got the upgrade.  There’s an extended beginning with those la’s and we see various mannequins on the outer walls.  You see them before the “OPENING” but they disappear quickly when the concert starts.  Anywho, Perfume pops up and the look like of course, robots…ticking with the beat, but when the main track starts the whole stage gets colorful and in a good way.  Sadly, once again they don’t use the “Computer City” dance in the second chorus which c’mon!!! HOW DARE YOU!  Still loved this performance alot especially all the colors!! At the end of it, they go back into their twitchy mannequins poses til the song fades off.

14. Perfect Star Perfect Style

Staying on the platforms for the beginning of PSPS, they really stuck to the dance and the girls showed a lot of smiles in this song.  Even the crowd got into it a lot more than usual and even they were trying to mimic the moves throughout.  It was a pretty fun performance and was exciting.

15. MC

Showing even more wear and tear.  The girls somehow keep the crowd excited and full of life giving the girls alot of energy.  At least we get the cutest moments from the gals…especially the little converstation between a little girl and Kashiyuka and we learn A-chan is a pimp secretly…this is so random

16. Ceramic Girl

I love the song don’t get me wrong, but the dance is a little boring to me.  Once again many colors = WIN in my book.  I love how the song follows the English lyrics and I didn’t even notice when the chorus it’s ~Ceramic Girl, Say Love Me Girl, Ceramic Girl, It’s Brave New World…I was like I thought they said the title three times.  Shows how much I know. 

17. Jenny wa Gokigen Naname

I’m surprised that they featured this track.  If I’m correct it’s also the only track to have the girls singing without the help of the vocoder and seriously…Kashi sucks here.  She sounds oddly nasally throughout and I was like PLEASE TURN HER OFF.  The crowd is crazy though…hahaha they even scream ~Naname~ whenever it comes by.  It’s funny when A-chan does this cute face, it’s like OMG xD 

jenny

18. MC

Yeah….it’s weird there’s a beat in the background and everyone is clapping to it throughout.  Main point is, is that the girls got the audience to do a jumping wave and when they finished all the girls were ecstatic.  The beat is there and is explained

19. Chocolate Disco

Of course…when you have a song with the word ~Disco~ in it, you have to have a disco ball to accompany it.  It’s pretty big too and shines all over the stage.  Main thing about this performance was the screen, showing the title and having a cyclone of stars filtering on it.  There’s this one part in the dance where they look like they’re holding a pot and then stirring it then dipping their fingers in it and taking two licks…I’m always baffled by that move but w/e xD

chocolate

20. Polyrhythm

Why do you take so long to perform the track that really boosted your careers.  Once again, it’s nothing that we’ve already seen beforehand.  They do shoot strings/confetti to the fans so that was pretty cool and they were waving them around through the performance.  I personally liked GAME tour’s performance more though…

21. Puppy love

Last song before the encore.  This I think is a first time performance of Puppy love, oddly I can see why because I don’t remember much of it in the first place on the album.  I like the starry background going on, but the song still doesn’t leave much of an impression on me.  Then the lights turn on

22. ENCORE MC

The final MC is the thank you for coming to see us and all they love and joy.  A-chan cries a bit because y’know it’s Budoukan, who wouldn’t cry…oh yea the other girls.  They also change outfits again, this time the clothes from the Dream Fighter PV.

achan

23. Dream Fighter

So they performed their recent single at the time of this performance.  I wonder if the PV was out beforehand but it was playing with Perfume dancing and singing as well.  You could say they mimiced their own PV right and they put on a great performance, especially after all that dancing. 

24. Perfume

Do you really need to perform this?  Yes, its the songbearer of the group name, but the song is so unlike the other tracks.  They also don’t sing under the vocoder which is nice, but they are just saying a lot of random things and acting as an idol group.  It got the crowd going again which I’ll definitly approve of!

25. wonder2

Just like on the GAME tour, wonder 2 finishes off the encore.  Unlike the previous performance, the girls don’t get as emotional as they did and that’s because no one had glowy sticks (well a few people did), but I almost felt emotional when A-chan couldn’t sing her part because she was crying hard.  It’s weird that they played the credits on the screen towards the end.  It was so bittersweet when the feathers started coming down and they behind the screen, but they felt bad so the got on their knees and waved at the crowd as the cage comes down to close the program…it was so cute.  I’m definitly gotten a goodbye vibe from wonder2 and it ends everything so well…it’s staple to them now.

BEST PERFORMANCES

  • edge
  • wonder2
  • Chocolate Disco
  • Secret Secret
  • GAME

This DVD was pretty nifty, I mean the girls show a lot of stamina for a women especially dancing at a caliber that not alot of people can really do.  I’m surprised to not see either “Butterfly” and their indies stuff being performed at all.  The latter is prolly cuz it’s indies, but why not Butterfly at least.  That’s because it got it’s own PV OMG.  If you guys want me to snap some pictures up I will!  but right now this was a great performance

bye-bye

 

 
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