Please note, however, that just because I say what is on my mind here, I do NOT expect you to agree with me, nor do I expect you to think I am right - I'm just stating what I simply think and feel, not what YOU think or feel. Disagree with me. Hate me for what I say. Think I am wrong and think I am unjust, but DO NOT think for a second that I will succumb to peer pressure to simply appease people. I'm not changing how I feel just to please others - I may be a people pleaser, but not when it comes to my opinion. Nuff. Said!
NOTE: This post contains some of my harsher comments, making it one of my more unabashed reviews. If you don't like it when I get really opinionated, then honestly, this is not the review for you I swear, I hit Bitch Level #10 here, so if you can't tolerate it when I get into Angry-Review mode, then turn away, because y'all might just want to hit me by the end of this. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
Being an Idol for 10 years is no easy feat, especially when the shelf life of an Idol is around the 2~5 years mark. It's not a long-lived career choice, so of course, very few actually make it to the decade mark, fewer surpassing it. You will find that, in general, you get more girls dropping out than staying put, and if a group does manage to make it this long... well, usually it's the name that has stayed, the faces that have changed.
And yet somehow, Berryz Kobou have managed to defy all odds and do just that; Idols for 10 years. A group that has barely changed since their formation, with only one graduation and no additions, the same faces constant. The only change in them would be the fact that time happened, thanks to puberty hitting (and missing some of) the girls. Where other groups have dropped or lost their members, Berryz have stayed as constant as the tide.
This is a group that people actually got to see grow.
It's an amazing feat, to become Idols at such a young age, and to end their career as Idols in adulthood. No other group can brag about this; it's something very few can hope to achieve in the ever-changing Idol world, and Berryz managed it.
For over a decade, these girls have been the Wota's Idols.
10 years. A decade. Over a decade, actually, but still. That's amazing, for an Idol group, at least; for a decade these girls have been watched over by their fans, seen both success and decline in their long career, grown up on and off a stage, all the while undertaking the hardships of a Japanese Idol. They have watched Hello! Project change since their debut, too, seeing members come and go, slowly gaining seniority and recognition among their peers. For 10 years, Berryz Kobou have been around, and a lot has happened to them.
10 years is a long fucking time, you guys. Even I have to respect their ability to stay together, even during the times where they looked like they couldn't give a rats arse about what they were doing; I respect that they managed to do this for so long, even if they wanted to be somewhere else at the time they were doing their Idol shindig.
It's impressive, to say the least.
So when the song and title came out last year for this track, Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Deshou!, I was actually excited - this was a song celebrating the girls and their 10 years as Idols, a celebration of sorts, a paying of respect to their time in Hello! Project. At the same time, I was hoping this would be one of their last songs too, (turns out, it was, being a part of their penultimate single) only because they were getting really boring at this point in time, too. Still, I hoped this would be an interesting song and video, because hey, 10 years is a big thing, right? It'd be nice to see some homage payed to the group.
... Well, we kinda get that, but not in the way I would have liked. Then again, I'm picky with my MV's and their quality, so when this came out, I was disappointed, to say the least.
Actually, I downright hated it. I was disgusted by it. This was a cheap-ass PV, in my eyes. And now, after a year of successfully ignoring it, I'm finally watching it again, because these 10 year Idols are finally hitting the hay and disbanding, and I have a series to write. And what better way to celebrate this week than to review one of their final hurrahs, right? No less, a 'homage' styled hurrah, if you could call it that.
Don't worry though, I still have two more of these PV Reviews up my sleeve before I can finally part ways with this series, at least for the music side of it all, so you'll still have time to hear me lament over them for a day or so. It'll be fun. Promise.
Not.
So, talking all done until the rest of the review at the end of the picture spam, let's get into this pile of horse shite that I've been avoiding all year. My hooves are out, claws as well, and I'm not going to go easy on these girls, just because of their 10 year history; this is the Berryz I don't like, and heck no am I gonna be nice just because they're gonna be gone soon!
This is Futsuu, Idol 10nen Yatterannai Deshou!, and no, I don't like it, but I'll bear with it for all of you, and because ranting is fun. Let's get it ON!!!
