The Pain of Youth is written in a Letter...

I do not expect you to like my opinion or even agree with it. I simply expect you to tolerate it.

As a year-end present, the SATOYAMA Movement decided to upload the video to Tegami that would mark the debut of the Satoyama movement and UFP soloist, Tazaki Asahi. This was the last Idol video I saw in 2012, and a video that I certainly didn't expect to see until much later on in January. The SATOYAMA Movement isn't exactly up-to-date when uploading their groups video's, especially where it concerns Harvest and GREEN FIELDS, though enough about those groups; we are here to talk about Asahi and her debut, no?

Though regarding Asahi herself, plenty of fans of H!P (including myself) have dubbed her as 'The next Mano Erina' because of that one little talent she has which Mano was once so well known for.

Yup, it's the piano, the one thing that the two have in common (that and being soloists, but that's beside the point) and the reason why we fans think 'Caw blimey, mate, she's the next Mano Piano!', though some may argue that she isn't the same as Mano, and I do completely agree. There is something different about the two singers, and the difference has to be that Asahi has a lot more passion and power in her piano skills than Mano does.

Yes, I am being serious. I think that Asahi has much more to offer in terms of her piano playing skills than Mano does, and really, I can kinda see why she won that Forest Award. This girl looks so fierce on that piano!

I make it sound like she laying on top of it, which would be pretty damn delicious, but sadly no...

Damnit I'm rambling! Time to get into the pic spam before I begin crying about how she wasn't sprawled across the Piano. Let's spam!

Simple, much like the rest of the SATOYAMA opening sequences

It's the second-coming of Mano!

Leg legs LEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGS~

What a great way to open up this vieo! You can never have enough legs, and Asahi, yours are greatly appreciated here ;)

Wait a second here... isn't this the Nanchatte Renai location?

Yup, it is. Same walls, windows... and hey, look! It's the door that Niigaki practically draped herself over!

Sexy times!

Whoa whoa whoa... there are two of you now?

... Okay, I'm cool with that.

That is one beautiful smile right there.

My, what beautiful hands you have!

Wait a second... is this another Idol Army thing?

That glimmer of happiness in her eyes is so easy to see, and whilst she may look a little over-enthusiastic and creepy here, damn she is beautiful.

Wait, I said you were beautiful! Why so solemn right now? Did my saying you were creepy offend thee?

Asahi: "I'm creepy... like that Mayu girl and Paruru creepy..."

Girl, your over-enthusiastic smile is creepy. You don't look soulless, so you're not in the line of Mayu and Paruru creepy.

There's THREE NOW? What is this, the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future?

Actually it's as if she's remember stuff, so yeah, Ghosts of the Past

Cold, Asahi? I have heard that these warehouses are pretty drafty...

Hey, can I look at the picture too? Is it a topless photo of Yamada Ryosuke? Is it?

I wanna see T^T

Asahi, why so sad? Please tell me D8

Asahi: "Curiouser and curiouser..."

Oh wow, look that pretty potted plant in the background!

Now that is a beautiful neck, but sadly for you Asahi, I have a fixation with the leggier limbs of your body...

Tea? Well I don't mind if I do...

Well now you've spilt it everywhere! Great!

No! Not the... PEN!!!

-starts to sing Pen Pen Kyoudai-

Asahi, darling? Are you alright? You seem to be staring off into some far off land...

And now she's communicating with Aliens. Scrap the next Mano Erina, Asahi is the new Johnson!

The Ghosts of Christmas 2012's past have gathered here today...

Argh!!! SHE'S A GHOST!

Didn't we somewhat establish this earlier, Chii!?

Well, at least a letter is present in this song. Thank goodness some PV's continue to keep within the theme of their song title and lyrics!

Aww, she looks so happy with that letter...

Was it a letter from her past asking if she had changed at all?

Or is it a letter from a boy?

Oh my gosh it's a scandal, she has a lover omgomgomg!!!

-flails around like a chicken-

What are you looking at, Asahi? Oh, Tsunku? Why are you looking at him...?

Hey!!! Stop laughing at Tsunku's penis! My god, you Idols and the amount you laugh at him! He can't help it!!!

Letters are falling from the sky! Are they from Yamada Ryosuke or is it hate mail from Mano for stealing her skill!?

Is it just me, or does this scene scream Mano for some reason?

READ ALL THE LETTERS!!!

Asahi: "Ufufufufu, first Mano, and then the WORLD!!!"

Asahi: "Precious one..."

She looks a little bit too creepy with the piano here... o-O

Oh hell yeah, CROSS FADE!!! Nothing like a nice and simple and cheap effect to show off Asahi beautifully!

My lord, there were not enough leg shots in this PV! And is it just me or does that warehouse look a lot better than it did in Nanchatte Renai because of the light?

Wait... it ended already? Ah dang it...

To begin this portion of the review, I want to say that I really was not expecting the PV to come as early as it did; as I have said, it can take the SATOYAMA Movement some time before they actually upload a PV to their channel or even release it, so I was actually anticipating this PV to come out way after the 16th of January. Luckily it made a surprise appearance and it became the final PV of 2012 that I watched.

That said, let's talk about the PV itself now, shall we~?

Now you all know me, right? Simplicity = perfection... or at least it does most of the time. Sometimes simplicity can be boring, but when done right, it can really reel in the audience and have you appreciate every aspect of the simplicity that the video holds. Luckily for me, the SATOYAMA Movement seem to do pretty well when it comes to creating their video's; everything is pretty simple, but it isn't boring and can keep you entertained for the duration of the video.

Much like the other video's in the Satoyama Movement's inventory, Tegami is set in a very bright and natural location which allows us to see Asahi looking upon her past selves. This is also the first Satoyama PV to be set inside a building entirely, however this factor does not take away from how natural the video looks in terms of the lighting used and the overall gentle look it has. It's very pretty in my opinion, and I think that the scenes used were well thought out and nicely done.

Of course one of the main focuses in this video has to be Asahi's piano playing. When I watched this video I could not help but notice just how passionate she looked during the scenes where she played the piano. She had such an authentic feel about her when she played it, expressing her love and happiness when she played the instrument, and you can see that she put a lot of effort and force into showing off this ability. Watching these scenes made me feel so moved because of how she expressed herself. That, and I love watching people play piano. It's just so beautiful, and I love seeing the passion in their eyes when they play it!

She's a beautiful piano player, and I really can't get enough of how real it all looks when she plays it in the video. It feels like she played it properly for the video to really bring across her emotions and determination as she plays it. It's just so beautiful, and I adore watching those scenes. It is honestly wonderful, and it gives me this strong desire to learn the piano like I always wanted to as a child...

Ah, memories...

I'm rattling off the rails here, so getting back on topic, there are of course other scenes in this video, ones that do not revolve around Asahi and her beautiful piano playing. Instead, these scenes reflect more so towards the theme of the song, which is the theme of a painful youth. The video pretty much portrays the story of Asahi looking back to her past and telling the viewers through a song about her experience with love. There are three stages in the video which show us the story; the writing of the letter, the waiting period where she looks through pictures and talks to someone who may be the person she harbours feelings for, and finally the blanket scenes where she finds out that she has been rejected. Throughout the video these scenes also show us that she has realised that she has lost her first love and fully accepted it, such as showing her putting away the picture and closing the photo album, or dropping her pen and mug before showing that her present self has returned and once again found that letter before proceeding to show that she is singing the words of her own letter, as presented by this scene;

The video is very meaningful, and I am really impressed that the theme of the song is translated so well in the video itself. I really didn't think that the title of the song, Tegami, would play a role in the video, but it did. A letter was shown, it was written, and it was also used to a point where it felt and looked like she was reading the content that she had written to the person she loved in the past. The video represented the song a lot, and whilst I was unaware of the story behind the video, I slowly came to realise how painful the video itself was after looking into it more and seeing that video took on the roles of Asahi's happiness as she wrote her letter, the love she felt for the person in the photograph, and then the ultimate pain that she experienced through realising that her feelings had not been returned, and probably never would.

And of course, the ending of the video ultimately shows that Asahi has come to terms with what has happened by returning to where it had all started, and ultimately ends with her leaving the location where she experienced both love and pain in her youth.

It's a great video, and whilst the meaning and story behind the video itself may not fit with what you all feel towards it, I have found it to be a story which shows us happiness, pain and finally acceptance of what has happened. What I took from this video was a pretty powerful message from both the song and video, and it has a lot of meaning behind it, a meaning which took some time to see.

It's a great song and a great video, one with lots of passion behind it. In so many ways I find it amazing, from the simplicity to the strong (and difficult to locate) story that created this wonderful video. Asahi, though only just debuting and new to music video's, gave a great performance here in my opinion. Whilst she may have lacked in how she presented herself on camera as an actress, she really made up for in her piano playing skills and the clear strength in her desire that she had for the instrument. She really showed her passion and determination in this video, and that is extremely admirable in my opinion, and it made for a wonderful video and solid debut.

It's beautiful, and whilst I haven't talked about the song as much as I would have liked, I think that both the video and song are strong winners, and the best that the SATOYAMA Movement have brought out. They really upped their game with Asahi, and out of all the groups that this movement has produced, Asahi has had the strongest and most meaningful debut out of them all, and I really look forward to what else she can bring in the future.

And yes, I am seriously looking forward to Rolling Days! I expect Asahi to roll down a hill!

Chiima~

PING!!! Idolminded Recommended Reading: January 3rd, 2013