AKB48 [Manatsu no Sounds good!] 1st/2nd Week Sales + Review

AKB48's 26th single [Manatsu no Sounds good!] sold 1,616,795 copies in its first week followed by 128,604 copies for the week from May 28th - June 3rd. Its total sales currently stand at approximately 1.77 million units.

This makes it the group's best-selling single, easily surpassing last year's [Flying Get] (1.62 million). The group keep breaking their own records. Congratulations girls!

Manatsu no Sounds good!

What a magnificent track. I love the funky intro and the general energy of it. It's different from previous summer songs and here that's good thing. The horns/strings backing track and vocals remind me a lot of 70s disco/r&b songs. It makes me want to dance on a beach in a white bikini. And I'm a guy. That's how good this song is.

Mittsu no Namida [Special Girls]

After the breath of fresh air of MSG we get to what I'd call the most formulaic, "AKB sounding" song among the coupling tracks. It's a very listenable song but pretty generic and maybe just a little too similar to what we've had in [Iiwake Maybe].

Choudai, Darling! [Selection 10 / Reg. Type A]

Nice. It's a cute and adorable song and good for repeated listening. Props to the songwriter. Love how Renacchi and Paruru are thrown in with the old-timers.
The song (and PV too of course) is heavily 50s-influenced. I could very well imagine it set in a diner (complete with jukebox) like what they did for [Pera Pera Perao].

Gugutasu no Sora (Gugutasu Senbatsu / Reg. Type B)

Probably my favorite b-side this time. Simply enjoy a lot listening to it. The voices are clear and in the foreground and there's some nice lines in there. I love the bridge and acoustic guitar solo from about 2:35 to 3:10. It gives the song a less artificial atmosphere. Personally I don't mind that it is plugging G+ as much as it does and many of my favorite members are part of it.
The PV is really adding to the song and the girls look like they are genuinely having fun in their costumes.

Kimi no tame ni boku wa... (Stage Fighter Senbatsu / Theater ed.)

How can I not like this song? It's fast and anime-esque. While the other songs are sweet and idol-ish, this one definitely is fierce. Too bad it didn't have a PV.

Overall: This probably is one of the best AKB single we've had in ages. All the tracks are fun to listen to.