3. Jealousy to iu ka Nanto iu ka (ジェラシーというかなんというか)
4. Zenbu Uso Janai yo (全部 ウソじゃないよ)
5. Teenage Blues (ティーネイジ ブルース)
6. Genki ni Nare! (元気になれっ!)
7. Keep on dreamin’!
8. Hitoribocchi no Watashi (一人ぼっちの私)
9. Mabushii Yuuki wo Mune ni Himete (眩しい勇気を胸に秘めて)
10. Oozora ni Mukatte (大空に向かって)
In a pretty interesting video, Mana talks about some stuff and they show her in the recording room (Tsunku alert).
upfrontchannel also released a video for one of the songs, but without sound. I guess they don't want people ripping it yet. Honestly, it's hard to watch 5 minutes of silence, but the video's got a bath of flowers and a roof and some stuff. Certain parts are pretty depressing without sound, and its flow is very interesting with the first full 2 minutes being a close-up shot then with it finally changing. The scenes follow each other like a story.
The song is way different than "Suppin Rock" or all the anime songs; it's more like her soundtrack song from February but not exactly. If the final 3 minutes are interesting, I could really like this song.
The barks special video said "Part (1)" so I hope there will be more.
Last edited by EmEl on Mon Jun 07, 2010 8:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
What's the first thing you do when you return home after a concert?
LinLin: "I stop thinking and stare into nothingness."
Part 2 of the Barks series is up. This time it's "Live Event". She manages to wear her CocoLulu stuff while singing "Suppin Rock", "Genki ni Nare!", and "MAP ~Mirai no Chizu~". All with a live band!
Part 3 of the Barks series is also up! This time it's "Recording 2"! Including exciting scenes of her singing into a microphone! Resting on a couch! Following Mr. Producer through rooms! But we get a whole lot more of her singing that new song.
What's the first thing you do when you return home after a concert?
LinLin: "I stop thinking and stare into nothingness."
Part 4 of the Barks series is up with a video of the jacket photographing. Yay for goofy faces! Yay for adorable toy frogs! And other props! There's also a song in the background that I can't remember if I've heard before.
Part 5 is a mini making of the PV for Hitoribocchi.
Speaking of "Hitoribocchi no Watashi", the full video with sound is out. It's a beautiful song. These are the types of "slow songs" I adore over silly love ballads. It reminds me of Hoshino Michiru's song that makes you kill yourself from the terrible AKB48 vehicle Densen Uta. The movie was no good, but I loved the song. Or, hell, I'll even move past idols and invoke Morita Doji's name into the discussion of similar styles. Anyway, the video really adds to the melancholic feeling of the song and really uses the idea of "Hitoribocchi". There's some great parts in the video of meshing with the song that I do not wish to spoil.
What's the first thing you do when you return home after a concert?
LinLin: "I stop thinking and stare into nothingness."
[quote name='Em-El' post='81675' date='Jul 9 2010, 10:25 AM']Part 4 of the Barks series is up with a video of the jacket photographing. Yay for goofy faces! Yay for adorable toy frogs! And other props! There's also a song in the background that I can't remember if I've heard before.[/quote]
I believe the song is Zenbu Uso Janai yo (because she sings those words xD), and this is the first preview we've heard of it. :Db
[quote name='Em-El' post='81675' date='Jul 9 2010, 10:25 AM']Speaking of "Hitoribocchi no Watashi", the full video with sound is out. It's a beautiful song. These are the types of "slow songs" I adore over silly love ballads.[/quote]
Yeah, this song is really nice and it's nice to see Hatake is still writing songs for H!P and TNX stuff. It sounds very much like one of his SharanQ songs, the way the chord progressions go throughout. Much love.
I don't know whether to put this in the COCOLULU thread, or this one.
It's a Teenage Blues "PHOTO & MUSIC SHOW". I don't really know what it is, except the album's title track played to pictures of the COCOLULU girls. It's not listed as being on the album's DVD, but the COCOLULU song is. And the same user has also uploaded other stuff from the DVD.
Part 6 is video of Mana's girls-only birthday event. Except for the one dude MC, I guess. Robin's the other MC. First Ogawa Mana sings the Cocolulu song backed up by some other Nice Girls. Okkyan, Hashimon、Akkyan, Goto (and Robin's arm is moving off screen). Then there's a bunch of talking with the pretty Canary Club's Mikki and the ugly Cocolulu models. And audience questions or comments or something.
Part 7 is more from the same event. It's a live version of Hitoribocchi no Watashi mixed with PV making of footage. Then it's the Nice Girls singing "Genki ni Nare" with Mana.
Also, a video of Ogawa directly shilling her album to the Barks audience.
Last edited by EmEl on Wed Jul 28, 2010 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
What's the first thing you do when you return home after a concert?
LinLin: "I stop thinking and stare into nothingness."
These off-topic ballet videos segue perfect into my review of the album. Because Ogawa Mana is no idol. She's more than an idol as we can see from those videos. And after listening to the album, I know that she's no idol. She's a singer.
And her debut album is amazing. The album is filled with all sorts of emotion. The production is excellent, and the vocals are amazing. This album is essentially a rock album, with Ogawa Mana as the vocalist.
But rock is not how it starts.
Teenage Blues starts off with what most albums would include as a final track. Hitoribocchi no Watashi, however, immediately tells us not to expect a normal idol album. Beginning with a simple piano melody, Mana's vocal abilities carries the piece. We don't even get something that's not a piano until over a minute until the track and it only lasts three seconds. It's a heartbreaking song even without knowing the lyrics which means the performance is perfect. The piano stops as if the player just can't go on anymore and then adds in the vocal manipulation of "chikadzuku no kana". We continue on as normal with "tsurai namida" because painful tears are the only thing continuing as normal. The violin comes in after 3 minutes, and Ogawa duels with it and the guitar adding power to her vocals. This song is the opening retrospective prologue and leads into the full story of Teenage Blues.
The title track takes a completely different turn from the prologue. It informs us of the change in attitude with an electric guitar followed by vocalized "Woo"s. The constant repetition of "hitoribocchi" reminds us of the previous song, but this is a denial. This song fights against it with teenage angst rather than heartbreaking depression. Ogawa's trilling voice sounds great. The rock is enforced with the final repetition of a distorted "Teenage blues".
I was worried about the inclusion of a Kitagami Mimi track, but Genki ni Nare! was probably the best choice. Its rock basis flows from the previous song, and really all the Mecha Mote School Chorus Club did in this song was pretend to play instruments in the video, so it's fine as a solo song. I don't remember exactly, but I feel like this song is slightly different for the album. It fits well with her vocal delivery throughout the rest of the album, even having some "woo"s. Keep on dreamin'! follows in the same musical vein. I love the drop-off around 1:40. The storyteller continues to fight the teenage blues in a song that attempts to find hope. Or at least I hear a desire for hope in her vocal delivery of the English lines.
The rhythm of the guitar in Jealousy to iu ka Nanto iu ka sets up the internal turmoil in the song. It starts to becomes a bit more intense at :50 as Ogawa starts to let loose. The guitar attempts to bring normalcy back at :59, but only succeeds for five seconds as it finally goes into rock mode for the chant of "daisuki de suki de sukisugite". There is so much emotion in this song and Mana finds it all. ("Shinjite OHH")
Zenbu Uso Janai yo begins with a plea by Ogawa to listen. Of course. You've already got my attention through the first half of the album. The teenage rage has died down a bit for this song, but there is still an underlying sense of unrest punctuated by the off-centered repetitions of "honno chotto genkina ko". The song seems to end with a slight sense of hope, but one can only wonder if this is false hope.
If it is true hope, it continues in Oozora ni Mukatte. The music pushes the listener happily along for the first minute and caps it off with a great delivery of "kimi ni todokeru yo" by Ogawa. Her slight vibrato is awesome. From here, the music never pushes us along happily anymore. The same section in the next verse feels more like nervous energy. Her final "mukatte" is filled with such desire to abscond from her teenage blues with her shining soul.
Mabushii Yuuki Mune ni Himete takes the encouragement mantle from the previous song. Yet there is still the sense of sadness. We continue to hear the teenage desire to become an adult that was stated explicitly in the beginning of the album. The guitar arrangement in this song is amazing. It interplays with the vocals throughout the song and has its own solo moments of glory which evolves into a long solo before the "NANANA". Ogawa finally gives her ending line and the guitar takes on to the end. Here the main Teenage Blues story ends with her final hortative cry.
The album is not over though. The previously released MAP ~Mirai no Chizu~ and Suppin Rock were appended to the end of the album. Suppin Rock does well to remind the protagonist with the teenage blues that "It's only love". This song is from the end of 2008, but it is still good. The "HEY"s are very cute. This song ends with a happiness: a teen's smile, rather than the teenage blues. Let's shine starting today.
Last edited by EmEl on Mon Aug 02, 2010 1:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
What's the first thing you do when you return home after a concert?
LinLin: "I stop thinking and stare into nothingness."
