The Fresh Innocence of a First Love - 'Love' by AAA

All thoughts and opinions within this post are my own as always. Please respect whatever opinions I may have, no matter how absurd or stupid they may be. No, we will not see eye to eye all the time, but you can pretend I don't exist if I annoy you that much. THANKS!!!

I have decided that I need more spa in my life. So, let's get a bit mushy! Are you ready for Sappiness and Mush? I AM!!!

Valentine's Day is upon us, and whilst some fools are out there celebrating the day with chocolates, flowers and whatever else that may be deemed romantic or sappy with their beloveds, there are souls out there like myself who celebrate the Hallmark holiday alone... bitter and probably not sober, and possibly alone in their room. Ahh, Valentine's Day. You truly do bring out the best in us singletons, do you know that?

STILL!!! During these dark days we do have some form of light shining on us, a light that is called Idols. You know, those beaming beacons of happiness, sunshine and love? Yeah, them. We also have Artists as well to aid us through the darkness, namely: AAA. Aaa, I do love them (See what I did there? See it? Yes, it is funny, yes) because they are a truly talented group, with music that can be epic or absolutely beautiful. I do love them. A lot.

This love may be a bit unhealthy though, so don't follow in my footsteps, Reader dears.

Which is why it is rather appropriate to talk about their latest song and PV, Love. Even more appropriately, it is going to be released this month (February) the month of the emotion and gesture that is LOVE!!!! Sadly the release date is not the 14th, but still, I find the release of the PV and the theme behind it appropriate for this time of the year, and thanks to the loveliness that is Love and the story behind the video, it is the very music video that I will be reviewing for you all today! So kick back with your chocolates, ice cream or that sneaky bottle of wine you have been hiding behind your Idol goods and watch Love, a sweet PV that reminds you that it isn't just us adults who feel this emotion, but the youth we see today as well. Are you ready for Love to pull at your heart strings this Valentine's?

No matter what this PV tells you, I would advise that you never leave your child alone in a park, no matter how desolate or safe it may seem. Rule 1 of parenting, people!!!!

For everyone's sake, let's just call the boy Shiro and the girl Mai, okay? KAY!!!

Shiro: "Well Hello, female~"

Mai: "Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away..." -scribble scribble-

See what I mean? Predators are everywhere, even in lonely parks!!!

Shiro: "Heeeey guuuurl, can I get your Number?"
Mai: "Oh God... HEEEEEEEEEEY, BOOOY!!!"

I swear, these little playboys are relentless nowadays!!!

Shuta: "Hello, children..."

I do like your Fedora.

Give it to me.

... NOW!!!

Good Lord, Shinjiro is sexy o-o

Nissy is also damn fine, though he's made it hard for me to obtain attractive screen grabs of him in this MV. DAMNIT, NISSY!!!!

Shiro: "Aye gurl, what's that your drawing there?"
Mai: "Yaoi..."

Mai: "Er, I don't play football a lot, but thanks I guess..."
Shiro: "Can I have your number now? My ball warrants for a number, right?"
Mai: "... No."

All weirdness aside, this is a seriously cute scene. The namida's ;A;

Shiro: "Well, I have to go... babes to call, people to beat up. See ya, toots!"

Mai: "... Good Lord, you're obnoxious."

Even our sex bomb is shedding a baby tear at the sweetness of the Innocent Love.

Mai: "Dear Diary... I met this weirdo boy today, he tried to get my number... but I don't have a phone. I'm like, 5. So is he. How did he get a phone? Why was he preying on me? Why are men so weird? Ahhhh, oh yeah, My Little Pony: Fridnship is Magic is on today. YAAAAY RAINBOW DASH!!!!"

Why does that kid have a Letter Box in her bedroom?

You know, Naoya and Chiaki would make such a cute couple. I also love Chiaki's hair in this. SO CUTE!!!

Also, Naoya baby, whenever I see you now I just remind myself of this scene...

YES!!! I BROUGHT IT BACK!!! I HAD TO!!!

Erm... what?

Holy crap girl, don't go tearing your art up! A child's artwork is precious!!!

Oh wait, you were tearing a letter? What, are you going to send it to someone to have them decipher your words?

... Yep. Also, girl, you do know that the Postman has no clue there is a stolen Letter Box in your bedroom, right? Right? RIGHT!!!

Good lord Chiaki, you are pretty! I also love your outfit in this <3

Hell, Misako is gorgeous in this. Not as sweet or innocent looking as Chiaki, and Misako also looks damn forced sometimes, but whatever. Still pretty.

Misako: "Director-san, can I stop smiling now..."
Director-san: *Polishing gun* "What was that about stopping the smiles Misako?"
Misako: *Forces grin* "N-Nothing, Director-san... Nothing. At. All."

Shiro: "Awww yeah, that Chick has finally sent me her number! GET!!!"

Shiro: "Wtf is this? Some kind of code to get her number?"

This scene is shot so well I can't even...

Shiro: "Damn this girl is playing hard to get with me... she better be worth it!!!"

Those two colours are wrong, Shiro, all wrong!!! They aren't even the same shade of red!!!

Good lord, they are gray-looking here o-o I didn't really notice that until now! XD

AND MITSU-SAMA!!! Oh my LORD where have you been, you sexy beast of a man you!? This PV has lacked much sexual tension without you... well, Shinjiro provided some too, but STILL!!!

Shiro: "THIS IS WHAT I THINK OF YOUR DAMN CODES!!!"
Mai: "What the HELL are you DOING to my MASTERPIECE!?"

Such a damns sweet scene... well, if you ignore the dialogue I have for it o-o

Good Lord man, I want to do things to you that I can not say on this blog for fear that people will think I'm a bit mad...

Oh wait, they already think I'm crazy.

Mitsuhiro: "What was that, Chiima? I'm the sexiest?"

Damn right you are, Mitsu-sama!!!

Mitsuhiro: "Well thanks baby, I really appreciate it."

No thanks needed, you deserve the compliments ;) Damn sexy beast of a man... <3

Fixing a broken Heart... d'awwww ;w;

Holy crap, please don't tell me that the song has underlying meanings of being broken hearted then falling in love again? Does it?

For once I would actually be happy to see stupid Engrish Lyrics hardsubbed onto a video. Sadly, this isn't H!P. It's Avex.

Shinjiro: "Jesus, this is boring..."

I didn't know that Avex enjoyed the idea of using 50 Shades of Gray as a theme for their new Music Video...

HOLY SHIT IT'S A HEART!!! IT'S A HEART!!! OMG THEY FILMED IT IN A HEART -sobs plenty-

... And that perfectly sums up my reaction of when I first saw the end of this MV. I am not kidding ._.

Anyways...

If you're wondering 'is that all?' regarding the pic spam, then I will answer you right now that yes, that is pretty much all I have for the pic spam today, because in all honesty this is what I felt was the best in terms of images for this review. Not because the PV is bad or anything, because it is far from bad if you ask me, it's just that I felt these images represented the video better than what a million (erm... 60) of them could. For once, I chose the 'quality' of the image over the quantity. That is completely not my style, as we know I like do things in excess here, but I really felt that you could not have an excess of images with this video to show off how pretty it is. Just so many could do it, and these are the 'so many' images I chose.

That, and this review was not meant to actually be a pic spam, but instead one of my more condensed PV reviews. It just sort of happened (the pic spam), and the pictures spoke for themselves in my mind... which is why we now have a mini-spam of images for you all to view!

With that all said and done, going into this PV I really did not expect to see the story that I did. I mean, I expected a Love story of sorts (because come on, what else would a song called Love feature? Blood and gore? Totally!) but I actually expected something more along the lines of Koi Oto to Amazora had, a bitter-sweet love story perhaps between some of the members of AAA or even a few different actors. What I least expected was a video that represented the idea of 'innocent love', otherwise known as the love between two children. No I did not expect it, but after watching this video multiple times I have found that I have truly fallen for the video concept of Love and the sweet representation of the emotion that we think about during this time of the year.

The video for Love is extremely simple in its concept, however it brings across the idea of a fresh and new experience of being in love with someone, with the children portraying that idea of 'new' and 'innocent' love thanks to their age and the ways they express their affection for each other, such as the boy giving the girl his football or the girl creating the torn images to create the heart that they piece together towards the end of the video. It shows us the process of their affections, from the boy waiting for the mail patiently whilst the girl sends it off in small steps, all coming up to the point where they both finally come together again to put the heart together and fully commit to the love that they share for each other. The way the story is set out, it could have easily been pulled off by adult actors or even AAA themselves, but it is undeniable that it would not have had the same effect as what the child actors had, creating that thought of a sweet love that is so new, fresh and innocent that it has to be first love, rather than simply being a 'new' love with a new lover after you lost love with someone else.

This PV, though it has its faults such as a few lip-syncing issues and the giant lack of Mitsuhiro during a good portion of the video, is very well done. It takes on the use of a one-shot take (which explains the lip-sync problems) throughout the entire video with the members of AAA taking turns to appear in order to tell the story of the two youngsters as they watch over what happens between them and their youthful first love. The idea of a one-shot take is not a new one, but it is a very effective way of making a video and takes a lot of dedication, patience and good timing to get right, and in the end it creates a beautiful video with an on-going story that simply does not stop to show off other aspects of a singer or the platform they are performing on, and that strikes true for AAA's Love; we see here the story between the lovers, and we see the storytellers, but we do not derail from the story being told at any point.

Love is a beautiful PV in my mind, and whilst it may be a bit too bland or devoid of colour for some, I find the use of little colour a great way of showing off the main characters of this video, the children. Given that they are the only ones with a good amount of colour on them in the video, it's pretty clear to me that they are the characters of importance and the main focus of the MV. Even the members of AAA do not have a lot of colour on them and wear mostly grey, though I put that down to them acting as 'Shadows' in the entire Music Video rather than actually being characters (after all, they are telling a story, not re-enacting it). It took me a while to actually see this, but now that I have picked up on it it is really clear that anything with a good amount of colour in the video is important for the progress of the storyline, which is pretty nice to see in a Music Video if you ask me, especially one as sweet but simple as Love is.

As a song, I really do adore Love. It's a beautiful ballad that tells a heartfelt story of love from what I suspect is a third persons view of a relationship blossoming between two people. Because I don't know Japanese (nor can I find the lyrics, Kanji or otherwise) I have no clue about the actual story of the song, however I would love to know what it means because the emotion behind the song seems strong but also saddening during certain parts (mostly during Misako's solo's). It is sweet and gentle with an enjoyable sound, though there is no denying that it will possibly bore a few people when they listen to it, however as a lover of ballads in general, I found this to be a pleasant and beautiful song from AAA. That said, I do think it sounds a bit too much like a Christmas song at certain points in the instrumental, but that is my only issue with it.

Love is a gorgeous PV with a simple but sweet setting that will never get old, perfectly portraying the idea of a first love that is innocent and fresh as well as showing the viewers that love is timeless and happens even when we are young and so new to the emotion that we willingly share with other people as we grow older. In Love we are shown that even with our inexperience of being in love, we can still fall for someone no matter what our age may be. Love comes in many forms, and in this video it is shown through the story of these two innocent youths and the start of what is their first, pure feeling of Love for each other.



Love is a strong force, but it is also innocent and true. Will you fall in Love too?

Chiima~