All thoughts and opinions within this post are my own, no matter what. If you dislike what I have to say, don't read what I write. Unless you have something constructive or balanced to say, don't comment with hate-fueled intent. I'd rather be criticised fairly than flamed because of dislike towards my opinions. That is all, thank you.
It's that time of the year again! The Candy Canes are hanging on the tree's, lights are a twinkling and the eggnog is being poured! Of course it's time for Christmas, and when Christmas comes around, so do the Idols in all of their Christmas glory! So let the festivities begin as I take on 12 Days of Idols this festive season, in all their festive spirit! Are you ready?
It's 12 days to Christmas! Let's get started!
There are 12 days till Christmas and the Idols sent to me...
GEM dressed up in Tapestry!
Ahhh, GEM, where have you been since your major debut? I have no clue, because after We are GEM, you kind of became a bit boring music wise and I lost sight of who you were and what you did, forgetting to care about who you were or what you did after that. I do however recall that you lost two members who were shoved into SUPER☆GiRLS for some reason or another, but aside from that? Natta, zip, noodle. I lost interest in you.
... And then this song came back. Damn you, Avex, for allowing these girls to worm their way (somehow) back into my black heart! Curses and Ba Humbug!
Still, it's nice to find some interest in these girls again; I really did enjoy their major debut single, and when I first heard Star Shine Story I found myself falling for GEM all again. It's this sort of song that makes me want to follow a group, something that is full of spirit in sound and infectious in how it is produced, and given that this is a Christmas song... well, of course it's going to capture me one way or another! I freakin' LOVE Christmas songs, so for GEM to bring one out (Avex seem to be on a Chrimbo streak this year) is pretty much icing on the cake for me! Avex must want us to follow them, cos who hates Christmas songs!?
Scrooge, that's who. How many Scrooge Wota's are out there? Probably a lot, but whatever! It's a happy song, and I like it, so of course I'm going to review it! And when better to review it than now, 12 or so days before Christmas?
So let's get this party started and bring on the tinsel! It's time to get our Christmas Party on here in Okay! Musume Time Land, so crack out that eggnog and bring on the Christmas crackers, because a Star Shine Story is about to begin! Are you ready to let the Holidays begin?
Let's get started! One, two... Merry Christmas!!!
My goodness, what a pretty, blurred Chandelier!
Nutcracker Army: "Hiiii!!!"
I see Avex borrowed their grandmothers' tapestry for these outfits.
Oh shit, there's a dead body over here!
Ah, wait... she's alive! No need to panic!
Whoever pigtails is, she's a cutie. I like her!
I also like the one with the bobbed hair.
Because clearly, she is Clara.
...
I think she's pleading for help from Avex's manufactured inner workings...
Gorgeous Center Star: "And these are my bitches, s***, I mean harem... ah fuck."
Behold, the Nutcracker Army!
Egad, that is an adorable derp smile on Mother Hen there! I like this one!
D'aww, you look adorable!
... You also look like you may be annoying in the near future. I am not looking forward to this...
Okay Clara, why the fuck do you look so miserable? This is not setting a positive vibe for the story line, you know!
... Holy Hello! You're gorgeous, can I keep you!?
Even the Bobbed-Haired one is squeeing at the gorgeous face of whats-her-name in the caption above! DAMN!
Said gorgeous one is to the left, owning and knowing it! Hell yeah!!!
Legitimately my favourite part of the entire thing, just cause bobbed-hair owns it all.
Bobby: "Bow down, bitches!!!"
You know what, I'm getting some serious Gaki-Look-Alike vibes from Pigtails here... hmm...
Okay misery guts, lighten up! Look upstairs, y'all find a surprise!
Clara: "What in the fuck..."
Clara: "... Wait a second, is that my grandmama's tapestry!?"
Killer Sleeves: "Surprise, Motherfucker."
Jesus Christ, look at those sleeves! She could cut someone with those damn things, or take off into the sky...
Despite those horrendous sleeves though, she is a pretty little thing!
And so is this gal!
GEM has a pretty good crop of lookers, don't they?
Stare down!!!
... By the way, are they the same person? I have no idea.
Killer Sleeves: "... Welp, you bore me. Bye, bitch."
And then Killer Sleeves flew off, into the night, ready to cut some bitches up with her sleeves.
Clara: "Wait! I want to know where I can get some of those sleeves!!!"
Girl, didn't yo mama ever tell you not to run after or talk to strangers!? Especially ones with Sleeves of Steel!
Clara: "Ah, fuck nuggets. I lost her..."
Good. Y'all don't want some killer sleeves like she's got.
Oh, ow... your forced smile hurts me just as much as your high voice hurts my ears... oooowwwww...
Thankfully, there's some forced-smile-eye-candy here to save me! <3
And this one has ears to please my ear fetish! WHOO! <3
... Bobbed-Hair-chan, you ain't even trying! MORE EFFORT IN THAT SMILE!!! Do you want Avex to get out the gun!?
Forced, but cute. Keep smiling kid, the camera's are rolling and Avex want to please the fans...
Even though you seem to hurt my ears when you try to do high notes, you actually have a pretty good voice box there!
Just try not to scream, kay?
Tis looks like a good ol' game of Head, Shoulders, Needs some Soul Knees and Toes!
Well, those doors look pretty damn ominous to me. Clara, don't go in there! It's forbidden!
Pigtails is so freakin' fabulous, I can't even right now! Mother Hen can't even, either!
Clara: "... Is that a party I hear?"
Tis' the annual Nutcracker Army Ball! Why don't you go join in?
Nutcracker Army: "Oh no you di'nt!!!"
GEM be giving me some attitude! Oh nuh uh!!!
Looks like Avex had to pull out a gun to force Bobbed-Hair to compromise with the video... ouch...
... And yet, they pulled out the bazooka for this one o-O The pain in their eyes hurts me... Owwwwww!!!
Mother Hen: "Holla!!"
Quite possibly one of the best screen captions I've found from this MV, aside from Bobbed-Hair's squee face, that is.
Clara: "This party sounds rather fab..."
Oh Clara, by the way, eaves dropping is a sin.
I'm bullshitting you, but yeah, don't spy okay?
Owwwww, that grin coudl crack nuts...
Oh wait, she's a Nutcracker. No wonder she looks this way.
Gorgeous girls till look drop-damn gorgeous! <3 Stealing ma heart, this girl!
That moment Clara opens the door...
And Bobbed-Hair shimmies those damn shoulders... (like, daaaaaamn)
And Clara finds no one there ;^; That pretty much broke my cold heart, it really did ;^;
Clara, it was all in your head!
Centre-Spot, by the bests singer in this group! Damn, she's good!
Also, Pigtails' face right there is wonderful; it screams "Get me out of these FUCKING HEELS NOW!!!"
But nope. Stay in those heels. The pain is good! Feel the burn of Idolhood!!!
Damn, them leggy Nutcrackers and their Tapestry frocks! <3
This one is still very eye-catching to me <3 Why isn't she featured more, aye!?
Okay, are we just throwing some Super Sentai move in there for the lols? Or are we borrowing from recent MoMusu dance shots? I have no clue any more...
... CLARA!!! ;^; Poor girl, she looks so dejected!!! </3 My heart be breakin'!!!
Clara/Killer Blades is pretty cute, in an impish way... suits the theme of Christmas I guess!
I just want to smuggle her away and feed her cookies!!! D'awww <3
Still one of my favourites <3 Gert damn, she is lovely, even when she looks a tad dejected! <3
Pigtails is also one of my favourites; her energy kinda outshines the rest of them ;D
And Mother Hen is just... well, just look at her! She's breath-taking and a lot more mature looking than a good chunk of the girls in GEM.
;^; Don't cry, Clara! Don't cry no more!!!
Clara: "... What is that?"
What is what? Clara, tell me!
Definitely the best voice of the lot. You should be given all the solo's!
... Clara, that's a jelly bean. You don't wanna eat that, it's way past the 5 second rule!
Clara: "Hehe... I wanna eat it..."
No Clara, don't eat the icky jelly bean! EW!!!
Oooooh, is this the run-up to a Highschool Musical Jump!? I LOVE Highschool Musical Jumps!!!
EEEEP!!!
--- Ah shit, no HSM Jumps ¬.¬ Still...
Impy Killer Sleeves! ^o^ <3
Killer Sleeves has a Killer Psycho smile, too! D'awww!!!
And this one just wants to devour your soul...
Guys, keep away from her, and put on your sunglasses. She ain't gettin' no souls today!!!
Hell Spawn: "Give me your souls, vile humans!"
Oh Beautiful one, save us from Hell Spawn!!! Bless the smile, bless the heartwarming beauty!!! We are not worthy!!!
You know what, that's a very pretty jelly bean!
Clara: "I'm gonna keep it!"
Er, what?
Clara: "I'll call it Fluffy, and I'll love it forever and ever..."
... Ooooookay, Clara, what have you been smoking? o-O
...
Why aren't you answering me?
No one can do the Can-Can like Gem Can!
You know, I sometimes wonder just why management of any company finds it necessary to leave the biggest lines to the 12 year olds of the group. Like, seriously? This kid is a decent singer, but not on the high notes!!!
Nutcracker Army: "Bye bye bye, we're flying away on the Sleeves of Love now!"
D'awwww, they're gonna leave me! Noooo ;w;
Nutcracker Army: "Nutcracker Army, Reporting for Duty! We are GEM!!!"
Ahhh, this is a nice PV! It's a nice song too, one of my favourites from the abundance of Christmas themed PV's that have come out of the Idol factory this year, but for sure it's one of the most played so far; Star Shine Story has been on a loop for a while, even since I found it before the start of December actually, and I still love it so much in sound!
Seriously though, if there is something to get addicted to this Jolly Season of Giving, then it's Star Shine Story. This, and chocolate. Always chocolate
Random opening-gush over and done with, I will get onto the review portion of this post and once again state that, yes, I do really like this song, though after hearing other Christmas songs from various Idol groups, I have come to realise that it isn't my favourite any more, but still one of the few I listen to excessively when I am in the mood for my Christmas jingles. It's an addictive song! It's happy, energetic and filled with spirit that is just perfect for this time of the year, and when it comes to Christmas music that is typically what I look for in a song; the mood is what matters to me, and if a song can't get me in an uplifting spirit for one of the merriest times of the year, then I don't want it.
... Unless it's Wham's Last Christmas, but a song like that can get away with murder if it wanted to. Just sayin'.
Anyway, I enjoy Star Shine Story, but I will admit that after watching it more and more, the performance felt very forced from the girls, because I can definitely feel some forced smiles coming from them. I generally like my Idols looking like they aren't being held up at a bank, acting like they truly are happy to be there rather than looking like they want to be anywhere but there, singing a Christmas-themed tune and appeasing the fandom... but nope, that's pretty much what I got here, and that's a bit saddening because... well, it's Christmas! It's the happiest time of the year It's the time of the year where we are *supposed* to be at our happiest (as we throw money towards commercialism) and the season of giving and getting as we smile and be merry! Not the season of Forced Smiles and meh performances! Where are the girls' Christmas spirit here!?
... Okay, I'm getting too in-depth on the whole Christmas theme here, so despite how fun it is to talk about that sort of thing, I will stop going off-topic and get back onto the Idol point of the review. Okay? OKAY! Let's go!
The PV itself is aesthetically pleasing I find; it's nice to look at, the girls are all pretty damn gorgeous (despite the minor set back of gun-to-the-head-smiles) and I really do love the dance shot, with that part being my favourite bit out of all of it. I also like the kinda-there story line the video tries to portray as well, even if it does feel like it's a little obscure as to what it's about sometimes; that said, this is only the short version of the video, so until the full version of the music video comes out it will all be a mystery until then... and even then, it might be a mystery still. Idol MV's aren't always easy to read, after all.
Still, it's very pretty and I did enjoy watching it a lot, especially the girls themselves; they all looked amazing in their tapestry outfits, as if they were a little army of Nutcrackers. Honestly speaking, the very first time I watched this video I thought to myself that it felt like it was inspired by The Nutcracker. You may disagree on this with me, but this is what I saw when watching it, and I still feel like it could be inspired by the famous Christmas ballet in a small way. That, or it's inspired by the idea of toys coming to life when the children are asleep, and then disappearing or falling back into place when someone comes into the room - either way, it has that mystical element about it that is very fun to think about and create a story from, and for me, it really felt like The Nutcracker's Clara was searching for her Nutcracker Prince and his posse of toys again, only for them to disappear. I just ueed the word posse, holy...
The part where they weren't there when the girl walked in was the part that got me, actually; it made me shiver and I felt sad, because you know she feels let down that they aren't there, as if she thought it all up. When she found the gem I did hope more would happen, but it didn't... still, it's fun to speculate!
In all I find the PV fun to watch and think about before the full version emerges somewhere on the internet, and whilst it isn't ground-breaking or new in any way, I do find it pleasing to the eye and easy to watch. It's a beautiful music video and, past all of the forced smiles and a too-obscure story line, Star Shine Story is a really fun Christmas song with a delightful video that is energetic and perfect for the festive season!
The first Christmas Cracker has been opened! Are you delighted with your treat from the Idols of Christmas Spirit? Think about it!
In Christmas Spirit these Idols have delivered and we have been served, but will there be more merriment in the next installment? You will have to find out...
Until next time!
Much Love,
Chiima~
No comments:
Post a Comment