On to topic though - the big things that have occurred and that I remember and actually checked up on were Jun's drama, new singles Bittersweet, GUTS, and the other song for Ohno's drama (daremo shiranai? -
MUSIC/PERFORMANCES
- Bittersweet: So I first heard the song when I watched Jun's drama (which I will be talking about because... well - I have a lot of thoughts on it let's just say that). Not bad, typical theme-song sounding catchy tune so I like it of course. I heard the full song the first time when they went on Music Station and it was a SUPER CUTE PERFORMANCE AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH. So basically the song is pretty good and catchy and cute. As for the songs that come with the single - the one I really like is Sync, Motto Ima Yori is alright in that "it sounds super generic" way and Road to Glory I've just always found really boring. It also kind of sounds like one of their songs from Beautiful World but I'm too lazy to check up on which one...
- GUTS!: First time I heard this was when the single actually came out (caught me by surprise I was like huh? PV? Single? What?!) and so I watched the PV and I thought the choreography was really cute with the baseball stuff incorporated me. It helped me realize it was for Nino's drama. Haha. Although honestly I didn't think much of the song from the PV and just kind of moved on... but then about 3 days later I found myself going "nana nanananana na na~" and it was stuck in my head! So I went and finally decided to download the single and now the damn thing has been stuck in my head for a week almost. As for the B-sides - I enjoyed all of them a lot more than Bittersweet in Bittersweet. Fly is cool, Love Wonderland is cute and very in-line with GUTS except talking about Love rather than "doing your best" (so the other side of the coin in JPOP really). Kimi ga Waraeru You Ni I feel is the week track of the single but I guess they wanted something softer sounding to balance things out? Overall though - I like this single quite a bit.
Performance wise? As I said from the PV I already found the choreo really cute and it remains cute during Music Station and in their latest Arashi ni Shiyagare performance of it. Random comment - Jun looked SO FREAKIN HAPPY during the Music Station performance, was there something I missed or does he really like the song? In general their performances have been really cute and entertaining and to be honest sometimes I prefer that to their 'cool' dance ones because those can be really hit or miss for me but cute always wins in my book.
- Daremo Shiranai: This one hasn't come yet but I'll talk about the Music Station performance. I'll be honest - I don't remember what it really sounds like but I know I really did enjoy it when I heard it. It's just with the sheer amount of songs I'm getting confused. I will say though that the performance I wasn't really all too excited about. Well, it's really just the weird hand movements that they did in the beginning and even the pose at the end - was Sho (or Aiba?) supposed to be flapping his hand around like that? The stuff for the chorus is fine - I mean in general I like the sound of the chorus the most but overall I'd say the performance was kind of 'meh' in comparison to how much I enjoyed GUTS and even Bittersweet. I'll reserve my opinions for the song though when I finally hear the whole thing.
DRAMAS/MOVIES:
- Shitsuren Chocolatier: I never read the manga and I really do not want to because are we supposed to hate everyone in the show? Shota was just so freakin stupid and the entire time I was like "OMFG STOP LUSTING AFTER SAEKO YOU HAVE A PERFECTLY GOOD GIRLFRIEND WITH ERENA" - although let's be real he didn't deserve Erena and she could've done much better than stick around with a dumbass like Souta (their chemistry was flawless though - damn). Saeko I just.. like, from the first moment I saw her I couldn't stand her. What the fuck is her problem? Like I know she's not in a happy marriage but she's just so... dull and flaky and empty, like what goes up on in her head that isn't "chocolate!"? Kaoruko just, no comment. Olivier and the whole thing with Souta's sister weirded me out just because I dunno, what brother is all like "oh dude yeah I'll totally help set you up with my sister man this is so awesome" - well I mean I'm sure there are brothers like that but the way the drama portrayed it just seem kind of weird? Like I would've expected Souta to be like "uh, sister is off-limits unless you're 100% serious" but Souta is like "OMG AWESOME YEAH GOT SLEEP WITH MY SISTER :D" like what? Ok well admittingly it wasn't entirely like that but that's what it felt like.
I'll say it now I couldn't finish the drama just because everyone was pissing me off - mostly Souta and Saeko and I was just so frustrated at everything. I repeat: are we supposed to hate everyone? Are we supposed to laugh at their stupidity and roll our eyes at how dumb they are? Because if yes than I guess the drama succeeded but if no than this thing was an absolute trainwreck of WTF. I heard that in the end no one got anyone which is great because no one deserved anyone - and like I said Erena could do way better than Souta. Ugh. This drama. At least Jun was super pretty in it though?
- Yowakutemo Katteru & Shinigami-kun: No watching either of them. I heard the premise for Yowakute and was like "no" - my friend who was super excited about it at first even watched the first episode and said it was boring. I love Nino but I'll let this one pass. As for Shinigami-kun, sounds interesting and I do want to pick it up but I've been lazy. Since it's summer vacation now though maybe I'll find the time to start it and get caught up - who knows? It's been a while since I've seen Ohno in anything because I didn't watch Kaibutsu-kun eiher (well I did but only a few episodes because it was airing when I was in Japan so if I happened to catch it then I would watch, if not than no hard feelings you know?)
- Hidamari no Kanojo: It was cute. I found it very adorable and sweet and I felt super sad when she disappeared. I knew she was a cat the whole time though. But still. It really is one of those movies I could see people watching with their boyfriends, I don't know why - it just had that feeling... that really cute like, while you're watching you just want to grab the nearest person/thing to you and snuggle and love it with all the emotion you can because that's just how the movie makes you feel. Warm and fuzzy and snuggly. And the ending was very sweet. I think the most powerful scene for me though was when Kosuke is sitting in the bar with his co-workers and the song starts playing and you see he's crying and he doesn't even know why. That was just.. I'll admit I started hurting a bit inside when that happened and I feel that that was the scene (besides all the fluffy fluff!) that really spoke volumes to how much she meant to him despite the short time frame they spent together.
All in all - adorable movie. Jun fans will love it, people in the mood for fuzzy feels will love it... go check it out!
VARIETY SHOWS:
I've been watching episodes here and there when I see an interesting guest or a particularly funny moment. Shiyagare has been amusing the past few weeks what with Ueto Aya (I love it when she appears on Arashi shows because you can tell she's very chill with them and and Nino are like such older brothers around it's cute) and the cast from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (although that episode had it's awkward moments...). VSA I watch periodically, I can't wait for Bet De Arashi next week (I think?) and found last weeks episode super funny, again with Aya. I've always seem the eps with Toma, Kazama, the soccer team and just random moments here and there. Every time I decide to pick up an episode I find it amusing and it makes me realize that at the end of the day - Arashi is Arashi and I will always love them.
So yeah - all the power to them and keep doing what they're doing cause it works.
bottom line: I still love Arashi and I hope they never change.
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