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. 

Not yet [Suika BABY] / Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 [Shounen yo Uso wo Tsuke!] 1st Day Sales

Not yet and Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 respectively took #1 and #2 spots today selling 58,113 and 38,033. Not yet's last single [Perapera Perao] had a first day of 70,669 copies with Warota7's [Kibou Sanmyaku] having a first day of 55,423.

That's a drop for both the subunits and could be because of the election i .e people buying the voting single so as to vote for members than buy this, still those are pretty decent first day sales, so congrats to both!

SKE48 [Aishiteraburu!] 1st Week Sales + Review

SKE48's 9th single [Aishiteraburu!] sold 472,327 copies in it's first week, grabbing the #1 spot. SKE nearly gave us a scare on the first day when they only sold 98K but was obviously due the theater editions not being shipped because the next day there was an instant surge of 288K.

[Kataomoi Finally] though had a first week sale of 495,809 so they were 23K short from winning their previous single. None the less, 472K is great and this single should be able to cross 500K too.

Aishiteraburu!

I love [Aishiteraburu!] SKE's upbeat songs are always amazing. This is like [Oki Doki] but like with lots and lots of sugar. The type of sweetness that people would like though, not an overdose. The song just literally makes me want to scream "I RABU YOU" and "Aishiteru!". I expected the summer single to be a bit like [Pareo wa Emarald] but then it was something I liked more than last year's summer single.

Me ga Itai Kurai Hareta Sora / 5th Generation Kenkyuusei

The 5th gen Kenkyuusei's get a song for themselves which is available in all types. Promoting the new gens I guess? [Me ga Itai Kurai Hareta Sora] is actually a ballad, and a pretty decent ballad. It's not bad but it's not the best in this single either. I found this to be the weakest track in the single, but that's just me because ballads rarely impress me.

Halation / Selection 8

When I first heard [Halation], the first thing that went on my mind was "Where has this Selection 8 been all my life?". Halation is probably the highlight of this single for me. It's got the members whose vocals are amazing. It's also the song that has a cool vibes to it, that I usually prefer. Best song in the single for me!

Aun no Kiss / Shirogumi

Shirogumi as usual gets the cute song. Usually Shiro's song even if they are cute always isn't the most impressive, if you compare the songs with Aka's. Last single's [Hanikami Lollipop] was amazing and while even this is your typical Shiro song, I like Aun no Kiss.

Nante Ginga wa Akarui no Darou / Akagumi

Akagumi has another dark song in their belt with [Nante Ginga wa Akarui no Darou]. I happen to be a sucker for such songs by the way. The verses are nothing new but the chorus part is what really attracts me to this song. It's also a song that would fit a anime ending, very anime-esque in my opinion.

AKB48 [Manatsu no Sounds Good!] 1st Day Sales

[Manatsu no Sounds Good!] first day sales is a whooping 1,170,554 copies. Being a election single this was expected but its also their highest first day sales ever. Last year's election single [Everyday, Kacchusha] had a sale of 942,475 on first. [Flying Get] and [Kaze wa Fuiteiru] both had 1,025,952 and 1,045,937 respectively.

The single has shipped over 2 million copies to shops, and who knows maybe slowly they will reach the 2 million mark?

NMB48 4th Single [Nagiichi] 1st Week Sales

NMB48's 4th single [Nagiichi], released on May 9th, finished its first week on rank 2 in the Oricon charts with sales of 375,785 copies. First place was taken by Arashi who sold 526,106 copies of [Face Down].

The single had a rather reluctant start with sales numbers clearly behind [Junjou U-19]'s First Day sales, but sales picked up and on May 12th the single ranked first in the daily charts with 91,990 copies sold that day.

Even though it is the first time that an NMB48 single did not reach weekly #1, [Nagiichi] is still a success. First week sales surpassed those of [Junjou U-19] (329,438 copies) by about 45 k.

Congratulations to the girls!

NMB48 4th Single [Nagiichi] 1st Day Sales

NMB48's 4th Single [Nagiichi] was released on May 9th, and it sold  231,200 copies on its first day, ranking on #2 in the Oricon Daily Charts. First day sales dropped by aprroximately 50, 000 copies compared to  [Junjou U-19] , which sold 280,367 on its first day, and so NMB48 had to give way to Arashi who took the Daily Number 1 spot with 250,415 copies sold.

All 3 NMB48 singles so far ranked first in the Oricon Weekly Ranking, but it will be tough for the girls to continue this series. Arashi usually sells well over the whole week, while x48 sales drop a lot after the first day.

It is not really surprising that Arashi ranked one, but it is surprising that Nagiichi first day sales are 50 k lower than Junjou U-19. Did the fans spent all their money to buy Manatsu no Sounds Good for the election tickets? A later shipping of some Theater version CDs, like it happened for NMB48's first two singles might be possible too.

Sashihara Rino Debut Single [Soredemo Suki da yo] 1st Week Sales + Review

This week was Sashihara Rino VS Nogizaka46 with Nogizaka46 gaining #1 and Sasshi #2 with sales of 124,483 copies sold. Nogizaka on the other hand had a sale of 155,567 copies. Sasshi's theater edition sales was not counted as it contained 5 tracks and Oricon only considers singles with 4 songs as a proper single.

The theater edition sold around 12K and could have achieved a 136K weekly sakes but she still beat Mayuyu's [Synchro Tokimeki] by 1K. Mayuyu's first week sales is 123,237.

Soredemo Suki da yo

Upon first listen, you recognize right away that this is a song sung by an idol, cheerful, peppy, and full of raw energy. In the lyrics, Sasshi describes herself as an pessimistic girl lacking any charms whatsoever; but for the very sake of catching the eyes of her crush, she will put on a smile and turn into a bright and cute girl. The hook is undeniably catchy, and the most memorable part of this song is when Rino shouts 'suki da yo' at the top of her lungs.

Hatsukoi Hills

The main b-side of this single is another standard fare idol song. Compared to the title track, Hatsukoi Hills has a calmer and less rockfish melody. Though this track may sound rather generic the first few listens, it grows on you when set on repeat. The refrain is lovely and sugary sweet as Sashihara uses a more youthful and natural voice to sing her feelings.

Renai Sousenkyo

This is originally a song performed by all of YM7 to celebrate their victory over YJ7. The autotune is very obvious in this song, and you can tell that Sasshi is straining to hit those high notes. Her voice falls rather flat, and I don't think this song works very well when sung solo. Tune-wise, the instrumentals are nicely strung together, and the guitar work is also a pleasant additional touch.

Itoshiki Natasha

A nice change of pace from the rest of the single, Itoshiki Natasha is a rock number with a more mature and cool feel. Easily one of best stage songs performed by Sasshi. She may not be a standout singer, but is nonetheless a great entertainer who does well in infusing passion into her performances.


Yeah! Meccha Holiday

A cover of one of Matsuura Aya's hit songs. As we all know, Sasshi is known to be a big wota herself; she is fans of many idols, and especially admires idols groups such as Morning Musume. and C-ute from Hello!Project. I love that she is able to add her own special touch to this song. Tsunku, H!P's producer, is known for writing very wacky songs from his idols, and I believe this track fits perfectly with Sasshi's eccentric personality. This rendition of a nostalgic idol hit is really top Sashihara quality!

Itano Tomomi Single [10nen go no Kimi e] 1st Week Sales + Review

Itano Tomomi's 3rd solo single [10nen go no Kimi e] ended its first week in second place,  losing only to popular boy group SMAP.  The single sold nearly 73000 units, which is less than either her first or second singles, but still fairly decent.  Hopefully the declining trend in sales will pick back up for subsequent releases!














This single featured several different versions, and included a B-side song for which Itano wrote her own lyrics.

In any case, on to the review!


10nen go no Kimi e (10年後の君へ)

Nostalgic music box is what the opening sequence reminds me of.  This song is perfectly the genre of song that gets to me - sort of a melancholy fast ballad.  I love the verses, probably more so than the chorus itself (although I'll admit the chorus is catchy too), and the backing rhythm is just wonderful - some sort of chacha?  I adore how Tomochin sounds when she sings low, and this mood of song really fits perfectly with the slightly husky/raspy timbre that she tends to have.  I wish she didn't sound so forced when she sings higher/louder - that's the only that really detracts from my enjoyment of this song.  Take care of your vocal chords, Tomochin!!

Clone

Her transition into head voice is actually really good in this song!! If only her high range always sounded this nice.  I love the juxtaposition of her head voice with the purr that she gets in her voice when she drops to the lowest notes.  As for the song itself, I feel sort of neutral about it - the melody I don't find particularly compelling, but it does have a very bad-ass sort of feel about it that I think Tomochin does a good job of portraying.  It makes me think of dancing in a crowded nightclub, is what it does :-P

deal feat. NO-FACE

Angst seems to be the theme du jour.  I love the little opening flourish, but I wish she didn't sound like she was pushing her sound again.  Her little adlibs are just lovely though!  The song itself doesn't really catch my ears.  The melody isn't that catching, maybe even a little boring, nothing particularly memorable about it.  I'm... not at all a fan of Mr. Way-too-auto-tuned Backup-singer-rapper...  Overall, I can't say I'll really spend a lot of time re-listening to this song, given that Tomochin doesn't exactly sound her best here and the song just isn't to my taste.

Always I need you

Love love love this song!  Maybe just because I like the sort of Euro-trance feel of the beat and background instrumental.  It definitely got stuck in my head and had me sort of dancing around my room to it ^_^ The constant drumbeat and the synth-ey sound just sound like the right combination to go with the song.  Definitely a song I can groove to, plus Tomochin sounds really good here!  She for certain needs to stick to a lower range - it'll be healthier for her voice and she just sounds so good low!

lose-lose

This is the song she lyricized herself, so I was really eager to hear it.  I think she did a nice job!  Maybe more consecutive repetitions of specific phrases than I think sounds good, but hey, I can't do any better :-P  The composition itself is pretty nice - I'm not a big fan of some of the intervals used, but at least it makes the melody interesting and the backing beat is pretty catchy.  I especially love the bridge section - it's pretty and she carries the sound nicely there.

Seifuku Resistance (Itano Solo Ver.) (制服レジスタンス (板野ソロ Ver.)

One of those stage songs that I now think of as very much a Tomochin trademark style (and I mean this in the best of ways - she is darn good at pulling off this type of song).  I've always loved the way she sounds (and looks XD) in the stage videos I've seen of this song, and she does not disappoint here!  The song is extremely catchy, and her voice is smooth as melted butter.  I cannot express in words what this does to me... I love it!  Her voice purrs in all the right places and breaks at all the right moments ^_^

Sashihara Rino / Nogizaka46 1st and 2nd day sales

Sashihara Rino's debut single [Soredemo suki da yo] as well as [Oide, Shampoo], 2nd single of Nogizaka46 were both released on Wednesday after weeks of media covering an artificial rivalry between the two.

Even with extensive "doping" on Sashihara's side, Nogizaka46 went on to almost double Sashihara in number of units sold. Oricon reports first day numbers as 56,879 and 111,222 sold units respectively.

After two days, Sashihara and Nogizaki46 are at 86,447 and 132,774 sold units respectively.

Today avex staff issued a statement, apologizing that theater edition (Type-D) sales of Soredemo suki da yo amounting to approximately 12k units had not been counted by Oricon. According to avex's statement, Oricon considers a release to be a single as long as it doesn't exceed a 4-song limit (not counting "off vocal" tracks). Apparently Sashihara's cover of Matsuura Aya's 2002 hit "Yeah! Meccha Holiday", exclusive to the theater edition, was counted as a fifth track and not as the "bonus track" it was originally intended to be.

While she might not have been able to beat Nogizaka46, Sashihara did outsell Watanabe Mayu's solo debut "Synchro Tokimeki" by about 8k units (50,145 / 1st day).

DiVA [Lost the way] First Week Sales + Review

DiVA's [Lost the way] achieved #3 on the weekly chart selling 65,353 copies. DiVA's previous single [Cry] had sold 56,053 copies in its first week. The girls beat their 2nd single by approximately 9000 copies. Congrats girls!!

Since their style is different from the usual idol style, their sales are the weakest compared to other AKB48 subunits and knowing that their sales increased is definitely a good sign.

Lost the way
DiVA comes with under upbeat song, which doesn't disappoint me. As usual the vocals from the members are strong and powerful. The instrumentals used in the track are really superb as well.

Kanashimi no Mirage (悲しみのMirage)
While [Lost the way] was a bit more upbeat, this track has upbeat instrumental too but isn't as fast as the previous tracks. I found the members vocal to be much more pleasing here instead of the a-side.

Stargazer -2012 Here I am cuz of U- (Masuda Yuka from DiVA)
I found no difference between Yuka's original version and the DiVA version to be honest. The instruments were a bit more heavy and emphasizing in this remake. Yuka's vocal are of course amazing.

Kimi wa Pegasus -DiVA ver- (君はペガサス)
And we have another stage song that has been DiVA-tized. [Kimi wa Pegasus] is from Team K's 3rd stage [Nounai Paradise] and I will just say this just sounds like the original was remixed. Even then, I think I still prefer the original.

Kimi wa Pegasus -Original Ver- (君はペガサス)
I still don't get the point of this. Remaking is one thing but covering the same thing again too? But then again its a sort of a shuffle we've always wanted. Its the same thing as original, just with different vocals.


Overall: Their singles never seem to disappoint me while I still prefer Cry over this, even though DiVA who has a different music style compared to the usual idol music, is one of the best subunit in my opinion. Also very glad that the new members are just back dancers and not vocal participants otherwise the whole point of "Dance&Vocal Unit from AKB48" would be meaningless.

DiVA [Lost the way] 1st (and 2nd) Day Sales

DIVA's 3rd Single [Lost the way] released today... well yesterday actually for reasons I do not understand, and sold a total of at least 33,896 copies.

Oricon sales: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/js/d/2012-03-19/

Probably due to the national holiday in Japan, Lost the way was released on the 20th instead of the 21st. It managed to achieve 5th place on the charts, with sales less than 12k (Oricon only reveals daily sales for top 3 positions). My guess is this number doesn't include pre-orders which are counted in on Wednesdays, that's why the sales are so low. So this is as close you can get to a pure public sales.

2nd day sales (or 1st since I want to call Wednesday the 1st day) were much better, at 33,896 copies sold and ranking 2nd on Oricon. However it looks like they will lose 1st place to Kis-My-Ft2, and 2nd place will be a challenge if they can keep up sales against KARA.

SDN48 [NEXT ENCORE] Weekly Sales + Review

SDN48 has grabbed their first ever weekly #1 with their album [NEXT ENCORE]. This will be the group's final release as all 39 members wit ll be graduating at the end of this month. The album sold 48,085 and won them their first ever #1 which they have been trying to to achieve with all their previous singles.

Since this is a best album and there was only one new song, I'll just give the review for that.

1 Gallon no Ase (1ガロンの汗)
[1 Gallon no Ase] isn't your traditional SDN song, instead its your typical Under Girls song. Even though its like a UG song, it is a very nice lively song. In my opinion, this is a beautiful song.


Congrats SDN! Finally, they got #1. They deserve this, they have been deserving of this for a long time now. It's still sad to know they will be graduating but at least they finally achieved the #1 weekly goal.

SDN48 [Next Encore] 1st Day Sales

SDN48's first and, most probably, last album [NEXT ENCORE] sold 40,800 copies on the first day and grabbed #1 in the Oricon chart, winning 2PM whose album ranked #2.

It'd be great if they get #1 on the weekly charts. This will be the final release from SDN before they graduate at the end of this month and they have never achieved #1 with their previous singles. Even if the sales are less , I hope to see this get #1 on the weekly charts. And maybe, just maybe, if they get #1 in weekly chart, the recording company might rethink Aki-P's proposal (the g+ post he made).

Watanabe Mayu [Synchro Tokimeki] 1st Week Sales + Review

Watanabe Mayu's debut single [Synchro Tokimeki] claimed the #2 spot with first week sales of 123,437 units.

Comparatively, this single sold more in its first week than fellow AKB48 soloist Itano Tomomi's [Fui ni] at 90k units, but it was not enough to outsell Yamashita Tomohisa, despite narrowly beating him for the #1 spot in first day sales.

That said, this is a good start for Mayuyu's solo career, and given her popularity, we can hope that subsequent releases will do even better.

And onto a brief review!



Synchro Tokimeki (シンクロときめき)
The title track is an upbeat catchy song, and fits Mayuyu's cute voice and image to a T. It's definitely one of those songs that could get stuck in your head, and the instrumental backing track is very well done. Compositionally, the song is pretty simple (which makes it a good earworm). The little background vocal interjections are adorable and the harmonic progression keeps the song from being boring despite the simple melody.


Mitsuami no Kimi e (三つ編みの君へ)
This song sounds fairly standard for AKB48 fare, not that the A-side isn't, but for some reason this song just feels less than remarkable to me. It's certainly a lovely song and Mayuyu's voice fits the style well, but there's nothing that particularly catches my attention. It did for some reason conjure mental images of opening sequences of some sort of mahou shoujo anime, if that's worth anything though ^_^;;


Shinjuku Yuutousei (新宿優等生)
Oh, very interesting, this song proves that Mayuyu does in fact have a more mature voice than she usually lets on! And I really quite like it! This song seems to be the angsty power ballad of this single, and I find the melody very compelling - those upward leaps of her voice sound really nice, and I'm incredibly happy that she executes them with such good control and subtlety when switching to her headvoice.


Lavender no Juutan (ラベンダーのジュータン)
This song is back to happy idol-pop style, but with a more rocky flavor than the A and B-sides. To its credit, it did have me bobbing my head to the beat, but the melody is a bit too linear and repetitive for me to really find a liking for it. That said, I'm sure there will be many people who find it quite catchy, and I will say that the instrumental sets up a brilliant rhythm and pace for the song - good workout music?


Mayuyuroid (マユユロイド)
This is an excellently unique song, to be sure and I quite like the little intro bit! I'm not fond of autotune, which detracts a bit, but I know why they use it and I wholly approve of the concept, even if my ears disagree with the resultant timbre. This is a very sweet song and very different from the other songs in this single, which is nice!


Saba no Kanzume (サバの缶詰)
Even just the first bar tells you that in for a very different experience from the rest of the single. In fact, it sounds like she's trying out an enka thing too, and OH MY GAWSH she sounds fantastic here. I think I can conclude that a majority of the OOO48 girls would sound much better if they just bothered to sing with more of their mature voice and less of their squeaky voice... Mayuyu's voice sounds very nice and rounded out here. Her attempts at melisma annoy me a bit, because she doesn't quite pull it off right, but that's understandable, since that's a difficult thing to learn even for someone who normally sings in this style. And the weird attempt at dramatic gasping at the last chorus doesn't work... at all... But all in all, definitely a departure from her usual cutesy image, but she executes it quite well vocally!

SDN48 [Makeoshimi Congratulation] 1st Day Sales

SDN48 released their 5th and final single [Makeoshimi Congratulation] yesterday, ranking in 2nd with 59,971 sold.

Except for AKB48, Arashi is still a major force to deal with. There was no way SDN48 would have ever beaten Arashi for 1st day sales, and they definitely won't for 1st week. Which is quite sad because I wanted them to get the 1st place for their final single.

Makeoshimi Congratulation's sales is quite similar to that of their previous 3 singles, which all sold around 50k for 1st day. This being their last single, I expected more people to buy it. But that's apparently not the case.

2nd day sales are not any better, this time SDN48 has dropped down to 8th place, below fellow idol group Momoiro Clover Z. The sales of 3rd place J Soul Brothers' [Go my way] is 10.5k, so 8th place would be somewhere around 4-5k? Not good news for 1st week sales. At this rate they might even be out of the top 5.

Nogizaka46 [Guruguru Curtain] 1st Week Sales + Review

Oricon released their weekly charts last week and the first week sales for Nogizaka46's debut single [Guruguru Curtain] is 136,309.

As expected, they lost to Johnny's group Hey!Say!JUMP. But nevertheless 2nd place with 136k is still good for their debut single. Congratulations girls!

I guess I was expecting too much from them. After all NMB48's debut single [Zetsumetsu Kurogami Shoujo] sold 131k on Day 1 and 218k on just Week 1.

Before my review, I just want to point out that I have seen a large number of people intentionally hating Nogizaka46 just because they are rivals. Personally I don't really see them so much as a rival group, but instead like the AKBIdoling!!! collaboration on 2009.

Guruguru Curtain (ぐるぐるカーテン)
When I first heard it I thought it was quite catchy and stuck on my head, but after some time I quickly got bored of it. That drum rhythm gets irritating quickly. Overall it's an okay song, cute and has a very simple choreography, kinda like AKB48's debut single Sakura no Hanabiratachi.

The PV especially feels really plain and low budget. It's like all the budget for the single went to Aitakatta Kamoshirenai and the 33 special videos in the single. I like the monochrome classroom scenes in the PV though.


Hidari mune no Yuuki (左胸の勇気)
it sounds just like your standard AKB undergirls song. If I hadn't known before I listened to it I would have even mistaken it for one. I like it better than most of the other undergirls songs actually.

Oh yeah how come this song doesn't have a PV like the other 3 tracks in Guruguru Curtain?


Nogizaka no Uta (乃木坂の詩)
Nogizaka46's theme song, and it's about not giving up and moving forward. At one point of the song the girls sing in the in accompaniment "Don't look back! Go my way!   Don't give up! Good luck now!"
The lyrics are nice, but I really dislike repetitive lyrics and totally can't stand the "WOW WOW WOW WOW" in the song. The cheorography is weird too.

Just like in Guruguru Curtain, the PV for Nogizaka no Uta is plain and featureless. Have they completely run out of budget? Well it's one way of bringing attention to the 33 Nogizaka46 members, who are dressed in contrasting purple tracksuits.

The girls seem to be at some sort of training camp where they are shown doing various exercises.  Then there are some crying scenes for people with that kind of fetish, and a strip scene because otherwise there isn't much else to watch in the PV.


Aitakatta Kamoshirenai (会いたかったかもしれない)
Perhaps the most anticipared song of this single, and it's not even an original song lol. Aitakatta Kamoshirenai is Nogizaka46's cover of AKB48's famous Aitakatta, but a much more darker version. And frankly I prefer this darker version. The whole "I can do it better than you" has worked for me.

There's actually 2 versions to the PV, the normal version and the "original cut". But there's not really much difference between the two and you really have to know where to look to see it. A complete waste of DVD space, they could have instead created a PV for Hidari mune no Yuuki. I guess they ran out of budget.

Will Nogizaka46 release a dark version of an AKB song in every single? I hope so because I really enjoyed Aitakatta Kamoshirenai


Ushinaitakunai kara (失いたくないから)
A ballad song, of course it wouldn't be an Akimoto Yasushi produced single without a ballad included. It's a nice ballad too actually, better than most of the recent ballads released by the 48s'. Good to listen to after a hard day's work.

On to the PV now. At last there is something in the background this time, which helps accentuates the girls, who are dressed in beautiful white tutus. In between the studio scenes, there are clips showing the early days of Nogizaka46. Vocal tranining, dance training, image training, rehearsals for Guruguru Curtain, and a bonus clip at the end showing poor Ikoma-chan doing something no idol should ever be shown doing ^^;;.

IMO Ushinaitakunai kara has the best PV in the entire single. This would definitely have been a better "Nogizaka46 theme song" than Nogizaka no Uta.


OVERALL
Overall I think the single is quite average, but definitely not living up to the hype that it created when Nogizaka46 was announced. When you hear that they are an "official rivals" you kinda expect them to be on the same level as AKB currently. I guess they wanted to start off safely, but I really feel that they could have done much more. Hopefully the 2nd Single will be much better.

Watanabe Mayu [Synchro Tokimeki] 1st Day Sales

Watanabe Mayu's debut single [Synchro Tokimeki] released yesterday, just barely breaking the 50k mark.

It was a tough fight between her and Johnny's Yamashita Tomohisa, but the Mayuwotas managed to ger her in the lead for now. The exact sales is 50,145, close to what Itano Tomomi sold on her first day for her single Fui ni.

I was actually expecting more than that, maybe rivaling Tomochin's Dear J 1st day sales of 86k. After all  it's Mayuyu's pictures that sell the highest in Yahoo Auctions. Nevertheless it is a good start, almost managing to outsell Warota's Kibou Sanmyaku's 55k 1st day.

So if we use the sales trend of Fui ni and Kibou Sanmyaku, we can approximate that the first week sales will be around 90k. But will it be enough to ward Yamapi off?

Side note: Why does Oricon do that for the covers? It's not like they don't have the covers on their database http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/artist/478717/products/music/951909/1/

Nogizaka46 Debut Single [Guruguru Curtain] 1st Day Sales

Nogizaka46 released their debut single [Guruguru Curtain] earlier today, it's first day selling 84,905 copies.

Nor bad for a rival group, although they probably wouldn't have garnered this much sales if they weren't connected to AKB as rivals. All they hype in the media because they are "official rivals" was quite a clever promotional tactic to promote the group and single. Oh the irony, AKB is helping their rivals grow.

There's not really much point comparing sales records at this point of time, so I'll leave that until the weekly sales are out. I predict around 130 to 140k at the end of the way, unless there are some late shipments that ill give the single a sudden boost in sales mid-week, then it's impossible to guess.

AKB48 [GIVE ME FIVE] first week sales + Review

The first week sales are out and naturally AKB48's [GIVE ME FIVE!] grabs the #1 spot with a huge sale of 1,287,217 copies in first week. This is AKB's 6th consecutive million sales and 12th consecutive #1! Congratulations AKB!

Also they have beaten [Ue kara Mariko]'s first week sales of 1,198,864. The group keeps breaking their own records again and again. The single started out with 900K not their usual million sales in one day but then compared to [Kaze wa Fuiteiru] this single sold more on the next few days beside the first day.

Now onto the review:

GIVE ME FIVE!
A new and fresh song from AKB or AKBand [Baby Blossom]. I'm glad that its not their usual Sakura ballads, the song still deals with graduation but is upbeat with members playing various instruments. For some reason, I find the trumpets use the best in this song.

Sweet & Bitter (スイート＆ビター)
[Sweet & Bitter] is a valentines day song! But I found it more sweet than bitter. At first when I listened to it, I didn't really found it so special but after some time, the song has grown on me. I love the chorus and its a cute valentines song. I wasn't happy when Selection 6 was announced but the song is pretty good.

NEW SHIP
The Special Girls A's song has already won my heart through the PV. It welcomes JKT48 to 48 family and I thought the PV was amazing. If you like the usual AKB generic song, then this song is for you.

Hitsujikai no Tabi (羊飼いの旅)
The Special Girls B song is a ballad and a really beautiful ballad at that. The PV is gorgeous and the whole song makes me a bit emotional for some reason specially the chorus. Absolutely my favorite from this single.


Jung ya Freud no Baai (ユングやフロイトの場合)
When I first heard the title of this song, I thought it'd be something upbeat but turns out it is yet another ballad. This is also Nacchan and Yonechan's last song with AKB. The song sounds like a lullaby to me, though the part when the snare drums came in brought an interesting twist to the otherwise boring song. The lyrics is about wanting to be with the one you love so much that you do not wish to wake up from the dream. Therefore Jung and Freud are mentioned in the title and lyrics of the song, rather interesting I guess.


Overall: I am practically in love with the SG-A and B songs, GIVE ME FIVE is a refreshing Sakura song from the group too. A very fitting beginning of 2012 by the group in my opinion.

AKB48 25th Single [GIVE ME FIVE!] 1st Day Sales

AKB48's 25th single [GIVE ME FIVE!] released today, selling a total of 966,529 copies on it's first day. First place of course.

Compared to the first day sales of their previous singles, GIVE ME FIVE! sold 7,000 copies more than Ue kara Mariko (959,000). However, it failed to sell more than Kaze wa Fuiteiru (1,045,000) and Flying Get (1,025,000). But looking back a year at Sakura no Ki ni Narou, sales have increased by almost 50%

Some people have said in the forums that GIVE ME FIVE! sales are low. Well compared to Kazefui and Furage it is lower, but it is nowhere near "low". It sold over 900,000 copies for goodness sake. We should be grateful for this much sales while it lasts. We'll never know when AKB's popularity will decrease.

Besides the fans are probably saving up for the Senbatsu Election voting single (26th Single). Thats were all your record breakers will be.