Juice=Juice – Tokyo Blur/Naimono Love/Oaiko

Track Listing

1. Tokyo Blur
2. Naimono Love
3. Oaiko
4. Brilliance of memories
5. Tokyo Blur (Instrumental)
6. Naimono Love (Instrumental)
7. Oaiko (Instrumental)
8. Brilliance of memories (Instrumental)

1. Tokyo Blur

Leading the single off, Tokyo Blur is pretty much the synthy dance track off the single and gosh they’re really pushing Riai to lead the group vocally it almost seems like she’s better than Ruru or something.  I do get to see a lot of everyone else though which is surprisingly nice and seeing more Risa as well is always nice to see being pushed in the track.  I definitely enjoyed this song a lot and just hearing everyone being utilized a bit more fairly was a good change overall.

2. Naimono Love

As the 2nd track (but was the first song shown off), Naimono Love is a bit more like something I could expect from Juice=Juice although the song kind of has an ANGERME feel to it too.  I was surprised to hear Aarii, Rei, and then Akari get a pretty large solo for the first half of that pre-chorus.  The song is kind of playful and flirty at the same time and I quite enjoyed this one too.  I definitely am happy to see everyone get a good solo out of this one as well.  I still do like “Tokyo Blur” better, but this also did well enough for me to stand out.

3. Oaiko

As the 3rd of the A-sides, Oaiko gives me that kind of odd Sophisto-pop sound that kind of took over the late 80’s / early 90’s with that synth sound.  Though it is kind of interesting that there’s a rap intro before it turned into a mid-tempo kind of track.  It’s kind of played out as a sentimental track (the MV is focused on Aarii’s graduation of course).  I feel like it’s been than the last couple of graduation tracks that we’ve gotten from the group at least.  Personally, not my favorite though still…

4. Brilliance of memories

So the single does come with one B-side which is a solo track from Aarii, obviously her graduation song, but I’m kind of happy that the song isn’t quite a ballad, but it is a lighter song for sure as I enjoy the acoustic guitar and piano with the underlying synth beat helping the track.  Of course, Aarii sounds really pleasant and while her voice his kind of pushed a little bit weird in its chorus, I do generally like the song overall and I’m happy we get something a bit more dance-y for a graduation song versus just ballads or mid-tempos.

Juice=Juice after their previous release, the self-cover album, “Juicetory” finally makes their first release of 2014 and it’s a pretty solid single, nothing bad, but nothing really outstanding.  Tokyo Blur is definitely my favorite of the single and it does reach higher heights for me as it’s got the slick, modern sound that Juice=Juice really enjoys pulling so it’s another for the book.  Naimono Love gives me Kobushi Factory vibes, which I don’t mind at all, decent though.  Oaiko tries to break the monotony of that song that’s slightly about moving on so it escapes being like the typical H!P group says goodbye songs.  Even carries to Aarii’s graduation song, Brilliance of memories where she opts for something a bit more up-tempo and that sticks out to me.  Also, this was supposed to be Mifu Kawashima’s first single with the group, but she ended up being under hiatus for quite sometime and she had to miss out on the single (though she is healed enough that she’s returned to the group).  We’ll see how this next single goes.