Can you Survive the Afilia Devils and their Wrath? - 'SURVIVE!!' PV review

All thoughts and opinions concerning this group, their songs and/or PV's are my own and no one else's. I created this blog to express my opinions, just like many others did. You do not have to agree with me - in fact, disagreement creates a debate, so long as you remember to respect anothers opinion, and to take their thoughts into consideration, which will help you to learn more, and to see things differently. If you want people to respect your opinions, thoughts and views, then respect theirs in return.

Halloween Madness continues, and this time, we have the Horny Devils of Afilia Saga East! Will you be able to Survive their Devilish antics? Read on to find out!!!

You know it's Halloween when the Afilia girls bring out the Devil horns instead of the Maid costumes! Prepare to sell your soul to the Afilia Devils!

I honestly didn't expect a new single from Afilia Saga East so soon, and I certainly did not expect to see the girls sporting devil horns. Really, I thought they would sport their trademark Maid costumes again after Kindan Muteki na Darling showed the girls off in cute super hero-esque costumes, but what do you know? We get a sultry and sexy look from these fine young ladies!

I'm not complaining, though I do miss their maid costumes...

So, just in time for Halloween, 5pb have released the short music video to Afilia's 9th single, SURVIVE!! to tide us over until the girls come out in full force with the full PV! Will you be able to take on the wrath of these devilish young ladies, and will you ultimately be able to survive their adult charm?

Let's find out, shall we?

Looks inviting, doesn't it?

I swear, it looks bigger inside than it does outside.

IT'S THE TARDIS!!!

Well hello there ladies, I see you're throwing a welcome party in this, erm... lovely warehouse you have here...

Hello LEGS!!!!

Initiate Nosebleeds all around...

Yukafin, you look surprised. Why?

Yukafin is slyly pulling up her skirt for all to see...

Louise Sforzur looks like she's a pimp in this shot. I dunno, but Kohime does not like this idea at all.

... Okay, I'm sorry for being terrible at remembering faces, but who's the girl on the left? She be sexay!!!

Karen looks positively adorable as always! And seriously, why do you girls all have the same fringe? I am really having a hard time telling most of you apart...

5pb, please update their profiles on their official web page @.@

Emiu is so pretty, I'm gonna start liking her more and more here on out, guys...

This little Devil can take me away any time she wants...

Maho: "Don't shoot!!!"

Looks like the Afilia girls are willing to do anything to get to the top of the Cafe Chain...

You know, some of these scenes remind me of Kimagure Princess...

Hello pretty lady!

Afilia: "Join us. We have Maid Cafe's..."

I want to join them... so badly...

... Is that.... is that Kurumi LaLa Milk, my lover?

Oh my gosh, it is!!!

Kurumi, your hair!!! Where did it go?

I adore these costumes, guys. I actually wish I could dress up like this for Halloween...

Looking gorgeous, as always. And Kohime still looks like a child among women, of course.

Emiu, why you so sexay!?

Hello darling!

She's just so happy to be there, entertaining you.

Backwards Jazz Hands! Because going forwards is too mainstream!

An Army of Afilia Devils has been created! You had better watch your back, boys and girls, or your hearts and souls will be stolen forever more.

Because hugging yourself on those cold and lonely nights is the only thing you can do when there is no one beside you...

Jazz Hands!!! Oh yeah~

Kohime, though small and child-like in many a way, is still the boss of these girls.

It's great to be an original Afilia member, isn't it?

Hugging yourselves again, girls? You know, I'm sure that I can hug you... and many other Wota, too...

Wait, where did they go? Oh no, this place is haunted, all I saw was... ghosts?

QUICK, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!! We need to SURVIVE!!

So... did you guys survive the PV as well? Good, because we aren't exactly finished with it yet! We still have a review to get through... let's see who can withstand it and survive the rest of this PV review!!!

For some reason, the title of this single reminds me The Hunger Games and Battle Royale, but I really put that down to my current obsession with The Hunger Games trilogy and the film Battle Royale, so I was actually slightly disappointed when the video of SURVIVE!! was nothing like a battlefield. Yeah, I had a little bit of an expectation for the PV, but then again these girls are Idols, and really, you don't want to see blood, guts and killing in a video.

Not unless you are AKB, that is. Then you can kind of expect it.

But even without anything to link the title to the video, this is still a pretty good video. I like it, not as much as I like other Halloween videos that have come out this year, but I do indeed like it. The girls all look stunning in this for one, and eye candy is always a winner in my books, and also... devil horns and awesome costumes. How can that not win? These girls look amazing, and it kinda ties in with that whole fetish thing they have going on in nearly every PV they release. Mhm... Devils...

The PV doesn't have much going in scene wise - we are in one basic location, which is a deserted warehouse that the girls are dancing or standing around in. You have your normal dance shots, group shots and a few solo shots thrown in there, with the solo shots spookily resembling the twirling solo shots of Kimagure Princess by Morning Musume. In fact, when I first saw the butt and bust shots before the head shots, I thought of that PV. The warehouse also reminds me of Nanchatte Renai, but it isn't completely like it. Anyway, I now think that Tsunku helped to co-produce this, or at least influenced the editing. You never know, considering he and 5pb's manager are best buds and all now.

Well, whatever, this PV is nice The execution is nice, and there is enough going on to keep people entertained. The dance portion of the video is nice to watch as there is a good amount of activity going on, along with the much loved 'backwards jazz hands' that people seem to like in this video. Also, the girls. Who doesn't like these girls in these costumes? I love them, personally, then again I'm an Idol perv, and I love anything which shows off legs and the appeal of any idol, really.
 The costumes show off that mature image these Idols give off, as well as working well with the theme of the video: dark but sexy. Nice.

If you like your girls looking mature and sexy, then this is the video for you. Afilia are great for this sort of thing, though their previous single could actually question their maturity too... but this single here is the perfect contrast to the cute and bubbly Kindan Muteki na Darling, showing the girls in a darker, more sensual light which really shows off their mature and more feminine qualities through how the girls portray themselves in group and individual scenes. This video may be simple, but by god, do these girls know how to make it interesting by how they work the camera and how they generally appeal to the viewers with their sultry looks and gorgeous appearances.

Now, before I leave and allow you to escape from the depths of despair that is this blog, allow me to talk a little about the song itself.

The song actually reminds me of Flying Get by AKB48 in the beginning, and I was honestly really worried that I would hate this song because Flying Get is a song that I really don't like or even care about, but thank the lord, the instrumental gets better for me when the girls begin to sing, and we find ourselves listening to a rather up-beat and cool song. Okay, maybe it isn't the 'coolest' song on the Idol scene, but it's cool for Afilia, and it isn't your general peppy Idol affair that Kindan Muteki was. It's like a step back, I guess, allowing the girls to sing a more mature song which suits their image more so than the cutesy Idol song they sang the last time. It's a change, and a very nice one at that, which allows the girls to look and sound more mature whilst still having a happy and cute sound to it.

It's a good song, one which fits the video and the dance. The girls all sound great (very cute, as always) and I thank the lord that there is no auto-tune this time around! Really, auto-tune has become all the rage for a while now, so it's nice to find a group who have decided to go down the route of not following other Idol groups. You go girls!

It's a nice video and a nice song. Not my favourite for Halloween, but for Afilia, this is a really nice addition to their growing PV and single collection! A must see for Afilia and Cute Devil fans, I think!

So, did you Survive??

Chiima~

PING!!! Idolminded Recommended Reading: October 29th, 2012

Bring on the MomoClo Madness with 'Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi Yo'!

All thoughts and opinions on this group, their song and PV are my own and no one else's. You are free to disagree with my opinion, or to agree, just as anyone else is free to agree or disagree with your opinion and anyone else's. Do not expect people to change their opinion because you want them to. That is rude and terribly ugly if you go around thinking your opinion is the only one to be taken into consideration. Thanks~

It's time to begin the Momoiro Clover Madness! Aha!

Halloween Madness continues with Momoiro Clover and their Freaky new video!

Get ready for weird to get weirder with the Crazy Candy Suckers as they take over the night with their latest single and PV, Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi Yo. If there is one thing to expect from MomoClo, it is a Craze-tastic video filled with fun and surprise!

Okay, so firstly, I am not a MomoClo fan, and I think plenty of you already know that. However lately I have taken to watching their material more and trying to embrace my inner 'MomoClo Freak' who likes these girls and how eccentric and weird they can be. I don't embrace that side too often, but it's been popping up more lately ever since Wee-Tee-Wee-Tee, which is now my go to song.

Damn you, MomoClo Z!!!

Anyway, they recently revealed the PV to their latest song, and honestly it was everything that I was not expecting... but I really should learn by now never to expect anything but the unexpected from MomoClo, because really, they're the sort of group who aim to surprise you with their weird creativity. But yeah, I was expecting something different, because the concept photo's showed the girls in Angel and Devil costumes, giving the girls a rather tame but sexy image just in time for Halloween, and what did we get?

... Well, weirdness, because it's MomoClo, and if these girls weren't weird, then they wouldn't be as popular as they are now, and they certainly wouldn't catch our attention! However they do have the Ying and Yang concept running through the video, you know, light and dark, good and evil, all that jazz? Yeah, it's apparent in the video, but they did it in a way that no other Idol group could.

So, why don't we bring on the MomoClo Madness and get into the Pic spam, shall we?

It's as if I've entered a theatre...

... Wait, have MomoClo stolen someone's child? Quick, call the police!!!

o-O What the hell is on  their heads...?

Oh my lord, the plants grew too quickly! Now they are evil tree's!!!

... Wait, MomoClo are the tree's? Okay, what drugs is the producer/director on and where can I get them?

You know, it's always a freakish kind of joy to see how crazy happy Momoka is in any MomoClo video. I swear, that smile is borderline psychopath...

Girl: "Oh shi... what did I do?"

This is looking pretty spooky, actually.

Shiori is totally fabulous, even when she's rocking one of the weirdest MomoClo hair do's to date.

Kanako, why is your voice so terrible to my ears? Why must you sing through your nose? Why?

They're using a foreign girl? That is actually surprising, but she resembles Alice from Alice in Wonderland...

... Whut?

Oh yeah, break out the moves, girls!

MomoClo: "Thrilleeeeeer! Thriller Night!"

These girls are getting ready to spook you all this Halloween and take away all your candy!

Those wigs are such a huge turn off, and surprisingly, the only thing that hasn't suited Momoka.

... She's still the prettiest member IMO, though.

My favourite scene, it looks so good!

Creeper MomoClo, trying to snatch away an innocent child! Leave her alone, you creepy child snatchers!

Reni: "Got your nose!!!"

Let go of Momoka, Reni!!! And lol, Kanako looks like she's been bitch slapped!

Momoka: "Bitch, please!"

Momoka will twist that puny little hand off of your arm if you don't watch it, Reni my girl!

OMG!!! YES! The Angel (or good) versions of the costumes are here! Oh my god they are BEAUTIFUL!!!

And loving the tinted wigs, they look pretty decent, a lot better than the dark ones.

Momoka: "Eat my dust, bitch!"

Reni and Shiori can't handle Momoka's glorious presence.

Bow down to Queen Momoka!!!

Reni and Shiori looks positively beautiful here.

... I'm falling for Reni, guys D;

.... YES!!! This is totally epic on all levels! Oh my god it's just...

The light up dresses really made my day, I swear. I wasn't expecting it, but it totally blew me away and made me enjoy MomoClo and how epic they can be, seriously...

Breaking it down MomoClo style!

Reni, why the face palm? Is Kanako's voice that terrible?

Shiori... she looks hot.

... What.

The.

HELL?

Oh my god this just got weirder... @.@ Guys, wtf am I watching? Seriously, what am I watching?

If looks could kill, then MomoClo would be dead, because this girl is not impressed by her new 'do!

Shiori, you are so pretty! And that wig actually suits you a lot.

You look angelic, actually.

Shiori lead: How it should be, every freakin' time!

All hail the MomoClo Angels!

YEAH! Punch the air for some MomoClo Z spirit!!!

Kanako looks so happy, it's actually very nice XD

Guys, I really like this set and those costumes... even the wigs are growing on me... @.@

... Really, what the hell is up with that? What the hell is going on here!?

Kanako, please get to the back and let Shiori or Momoka take the front, kay?

Awww, she's happy! The wig has finally disappeared, so of course she's elated!!!

Oh wow, the tree's now have MomoClo fruit on them! So, which one will you pick? I will have either Momoka or Shiori... maybe even Reni! Who knows?

And.... The End...

Of one fucked up story o-O Seriously, what the hell MomoClo?

The Moral of the story, kids? To always expect the unexpected, especially if it's Momoiro Clover Z.

Okay, so in all seriousness guys, I really did enjoy this song and video, to the point where it is on a loop now beside Wee-Tee-Wee-Tee. I haven't been this infatuated with a MomoClo Z song since Mouretsu, and I really do adore that song from these girls. It's one of my favourites from Momoiro Clover Z. It's just... it's wonderful, it really is... and so is Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi Yo, though it's got nothing on Mouretsu in my eyes.

The song is incredibly catchy, though rather tame for a MomoClo song in a sense. It isn't as out-there crazy, but it has the distinctive Momoiro Clover sound to it that we all know and love/hate to love. It's catchy, it quickly embeds itself into your brain and migrates there or a good while, and sounds really really good. The instrumental is great, it has a good mix of cool and dark, pulling out a little bit of quirky happiness as well as some attempted rap, giving the instrumental a good mixture of different sounds in one song without sounding messy or crowded in any way. In a way, the mix is pretty crazy in how much is in there, but the sound is quite tame, and the amount of styles of sound that is in there fits with the image of the song, such as the slower parts of the instrumental fitting with the Angelic look of the girls, and the dance-enthused instrumental break fitting with the dance portion of the MV where the girls have light-up dresses.

It all just fits, okay? Believe me when I say that the instrumental, no matter how much the sound can change drastically, fits with the video and the song itself, and everything works well together, it really does.

... I swear, I make no sense sometimes. This is one of those times.

Basically, I think that song is really good. I love the sound of it, it's really catchy and infectious, and it doesn't freak me out like other MomoClo songs can. It's a great tune, one which is very dark in terms of a sound from/by MomoClo. It's dark enough for this group, which really works for the girls, because they can still sound eerie whilst still acting random and creepy like we are used to. It isn't like the girls have whipped out a totally different sound which is nothing like the usual MomoClo songs we get, but it's different... or at least to me it is.

Okay, let's move onto the PV before I start blabbering more and repeating myself about how dark and intense this song is compared to everything else I have ever heard from MomoClo, shall we?

I really did not expect what we get with this PV, I really didn't. The concept PV's had me hoping that the girls would run around in Devil and Angel costumes fighting each other off or having a wild battle throughout the video, but instead we get this... something that is really unexpected, and something that is very much Momoiro Clover Z.

I was creeped out at first, but I have actually come to terms with the video and I actually really do like it. In fact, I think I love it. Even those horrible wigs and Kanako's crazy psychopath smile. Yup.

It's a pretty dark PV for MomoClo I think, with the set being in a garden where the girls create havoc for the young owner who begins the video innocently watering tree seeds. The video is pretty much a mixture of the girls dancing in either Gothic or Angelic outfits, haunting the young girl in the video and the girls sitting on a couch or walking around together with a horrific wig on their heads with attaches them to each other. I swear, that is the creepiest thing in this entire video... other than the laser beam eyes which is equally horrifying.

Now, I would love to talk about the costumes firstly... they really are terrific, like a cross between a Victorian gown and a modern day frock (yes, I said frock, sue me), especially the dark version of the costume. The pattern is gorgeous, and I really love how the costumes look. Add the wigs and you get a rather Upper-class lady look going on there, though MomoClo certainly don't act like privileged young ladies in this video, but hey, it adds to the creepy atmosphere and really works in favour of the darkness of the video, so to whoever made the costumes: You rock!
 The white costumes are equally pretty, showing off the more Angelic, innocent side to the girls which brings more light to the PV, giving us a great and much needed contrast within the video. The wigs also look a lot better, and I like the use of the tint to the wigs with the girls' colours. It's great for people who are still learning just who MomoClo are and are confused about who is who and just who is singing. I prefer these wigs, I mean it's pretty obvious.

Then there is the light-up dresses... Oh my god, thank you! There is more diversity in this video than I thought, and those dresses are just... My lord they are wonderful, and they fit with the dance break so bloody well! Yes!

They also remind me of that one Perfume PV (Spring of Life I think) where the girls had light up dresses, and really, I love that idea. I actually wished that for Wakuteka Take a chance Morning Musume would have light up or glow in the dark dresses, but it didn't happen, so to see the use of light-up dresses in this video was almost heavenly for me. It was a very welcome surprise, and I really love that aspect of the PV. Props to the director and costume maker. I love you guys for doing that.

Costumes aside, this PV is visually appealing. I absolutely love the set that the girls are on, it's simple, but it really works in their favour. It can go from being dark and eerie to light and open, and even with just one set you can tell that the director uses everything to his advantage. There are many shots which look like they are on a different side when really, you only have the one side of the set to work with, it's just the amazing use of camera angles and the props that have been used. There isn't even that many props in the video! A few pots, some tree's and a couch, and voila, your props are set! It's amazing what has been done with this video when there is only one location, a few props and the girls themselves. The video came out really great, and you get a lot of visual appeal with simple lighting adjustments, a smoke machine and the girls themselves.

By the way, these girls rock this PV. They really do, and I just love how well these girls mesh together in the video and individually... even if we don't actually get any individual shots this time around, but who cares? MomoClo's group chemistry is amazing, and their personalities really shine in every PV. I really can't help but like them more and more, they are always so happy and energetic and adore what they do. Nothing seems contrived with these girls, which is wonderful. They are really enjoyable in this video, whether creepy, psycho or happy - no matter what, MomoClo always seem to keep their viewers entertained!

I really like MomoClo's MV's, for the pure fact that these girls put quality into their videos no matter what. They aren't there just for the money, these girls are there to bring out some good quality videos that can entertain you with really good songs. Whilst other Idol groups will bring out mediocre, re-hashed or lacking PV's because they can Morning Musume, AKB due to popularity, MomoClo seem to continue going up and creating solid singles with solid video's that are very good or borderline amazing. Yeah, these girls may be weird, but their management really know how to handle them and give their fans something worthwhile.

This group is really growing on me, and I'm starting to see why people like MomoClo. They're different, but these girls really bring quality to their video's. They are popular for a reason, and it isn't because they are Idols or because they are overly weird... okay, they're overly weird is a good reason why they are popular now, but their PV's are pretty amazing and work in the girls' favour.

And their group chemistry is amazing, let's not forget that! These girls really know how to work a camera, whether they are together or alone, and that's what every Idol group needs. Awkwardness never wins in a group PV, I swear.

MomoClo are pretty awesome, and I may become a fan... enough said.

Will you join in on the MomoClo Madness?

Chiima~

PING!!! Idolminded Recommended Reading: October 28th, 2012