Introducing Agents Buono!

April 19, 2009 at 5:33 pm | Posted in Buono! | 7 Comments
Tags: 2009, Buono!, H!P, Hello!Project, MY BOY, Natsuyaki Miyabi, single, Suzuki Airi, Tsugunaga Momoko

I’ll do Morning Musume’s new PV when I’ve got my energy back (and when YouTube stops screwing with me). This is one of my most epic posts I must say.

For the most part I have no problems with Buono! While I didn’t quite get what they was trying to achieve in the first place with the pop-rock angle and the Shugo Chara plug, I quickly fell into agreement with their music when I discovered Renai Rider (which is still my favourite Buono! song).

I lost much of my enthusiasm for them quite quickly though. If I went through my thoughts on each of their singles this is what it would end up looking like;

1. Honto no Jibun – Prefer the b-side
2. Renai Rider – LOVE
3. Kiss!Kiss!Kiss! – Left a good initial impression, but I just don’t listen to it anymore
4. Gachinko de Ikou! – Suffered the same fate as K!K!K!
5. Rottara Rottara – Like the dance… the end.
6. co.no.michi – I know the lyrics to the first line. And that’s all

There’s something about Buono! that initially appeases me, but I’ve lost track of them in the past few months. I don’t even have any thoughts to share on their two albums because I haven’t even listened to them.

I did try, but after a few bars of the album tracks I gave up.

To put it in perspective I wasn’t even aware that co.no.michi had even been announced before the PV came out and it’s the same with their newest single MY BOY.

I’m going to experiment a little here and do a pic-spam PV review rather than my usual block-paragraph style but before I begin that, because I know it will take forever, here’s a few thoughts about the girls.

Buono! is where Miyabi first caught my eye. She actually shines in these releases as opposed to her unfortunate habit of simmering on the back burners in Berryz Koubou releases. I’ve always felt her presence as more than an effect of there only being three members in the group. Miyabi made more sense as “leader” of the group than Momoko, but there was that scandal-that-wasn’t-really-a-scandal… In short, Buono! suits Miya

The first thing I always want to say about Airi is that she is “a very strong/powerful performer” and while it’s no less than a compliment and certainly true, I find it to be a little bit of a dead-end statement. I have to sit here and ask myself “What do I think of Airi?” and you know what the answer is “The lesser of seven evils”. I have no strong feelings for C-ute at all and while going so far as to call the girls ‘evils’ might be a bit strong, it almost definitely draws parallels to that way I view them. Airi is my favourite C-ute member because I don’t like Maimi enough and I couldn’t care about the others less. *breathes*
In terms of Buono!, which is actually the point of this rather long paragraph, Airi is an obvious choice. She’s popular, she’s a vocal powerhouse on stage and she has an adaptable look – perfect for a style of music that requires you to be more than just an idol.

Momoko really, really, really, really annoys me. I am not inclined to like her voice (ah merry-go-round notwithstanding) and SHE IS NOT CUTE!!! I’ve actually always thought her to be slightly masculine in some ways, she doesn’t strike me as particularly girly. AND THAT GODDAMN PINKY FINGER!!! I can only just about stand her through a PV, so it’s obvious how I think of her in Buono! or any other unit for that matter.

 

RANT OVER. Back to MY BOY

NB; The screencaps are out of order. I stopped caring

The first thing that hit me was that this is actual rock. There’s no hiding behind a veil pop elements or formlae and it’s not disguised at all, this is pure, mainstream, unadultered rock. If I heard this song randomly one day without knowing anything about it, the only thing that could possibly give it away would be the voices which are still very much dealing with the melody in a pretty standard H!P way. Which means that Momoko sounds more out of place than usual. The guitar riffs are just damned awesome and their presence throughout the song just cements how awesome (and completely unexpected) the song is. That said, I don’t like the bridge, it doesn’t make sense with the rest of the song.

In terms of the PV, we have espionage, an attempt at choreographing a rock song and some godawful costuming. And the whole point of the PV is to steal some cake! Oh, puh-leeeese.
Though I concede Momo some points for being the one to whip out the knife.

It’s H!P’s most inspired PV for quite a while though. There’s a plot-ish type thing, several different scenes and the only recurring images are the close-ups and the dance shot. Unfortunately… I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at Momoko’s highly overacted ‘fear’ at the suit of armour.

But ignoring her existance for a while… Miyabi looks freaking amazing in her spy get-up, as does Airi but fear my bias. She’s rocking the bobbed hair and the eye-liner! Airi gets awesome glasses and pleases fanboys by crawling all over the floor. Under lasers, not just for sheer kicks of course.

Now, that’s what I like about the PV for MY BOY. Here’s what I don’t like.

Apart from Momo.

The dance shot in general. The costumes are pretty awful, the neon-disco injections of colour are obviously a futile effort to keep the video within the realms of Hello!Project but the girls end up looking like retarded go-go dancers. In a tasteful way of course, mostly.

No Momo. Try this pose when you're a little older

The dance itself deserves an award for futility. This is not a genre of music that you can really dance to. Head-banging/moshing/jumping about looking like a lunatic is as far as it goes and that is never particularly co-ordinated. The dance is completely expendable in my opinion.

As I mentioned earlier, what is the point in all this effort for a cake? Surely they could have matched the badass quality of the song with an equally badass conclusion for the PV. Any number of things could have happened here’s my personal favourite idea (if we’re talking a serious ending);

Miyabi throws the smoke bomb into the room. The guard collapses. They reach the sealed container. They open it only to discover that – Oh, no! It’s actually a ticking time bomb! Airi slams the cover back down. Buono! runs. Buono! leaps through a window. And the whole building explodes behind them in a blaze of glory. I’ll even give Momoko a closeup.

But maybe that’s a little too serious for an H!P vid. I’d like to see it happen though – it’d make idol pop history.

All in all this is probably my second favourite Buono! song. Sorry girls, it still doesn’t beat Renai Rider. MY BOY is pretty epic, completely unexpected and the PV, while there are obvious issues with it, is one of the most impressive for a while. I suppose I’ll have to see what the b-side is like before I label this as the best Buono! single ever but it’s definitely going onto my to-purchase list.

And it’s making me love Miyabi. DAMMIT! I’ve already done my H!P ranking.