It has been a very very long time since I have last reviewed an album. I believe the last thing I reviewed for any blog was either AKB48’s Team B 4th Stage (which I reviewed shortly after it came out, long before I really understood or liked AKB the way I did at their peak), or it was Wakeshima Kanon’s 2nd album. I don’t feel like checking my old blogs and I can’t even remember what they were called, so don’t quote me on that and please don’t find receipts because I do not need that.

However, with the advent of the new direction H!P has taken since 2015, introducing a total of 6 new groups and utilizing their trainees in a way i wouldn’t have thought possible in 2006, as well as with Tsunku retiring as the main producer of H!P to give more creative freedom to the other writers and composers that UF has to offer, I’ve been very interested to see what kind of direction the other groups will go in. Tsubaki Factory has been the most successful of these groups, with all of their singles performing well in the charts, as well as receiving tieups and decent promotion (especially for UF standards), so I’m interested to see what kind of music this album offers.

For the purposes of this review/reaction, all songs are going to be written about as I am listening to them. For the new album songs, it is the first time I will hear them, so this is more my first impression than a Review.

Hatsukoi Sunrise: 

Hatsukoi Sunrise was a sleeper hit to me on Tsubaki Factory’s first single: I was immediately taken in by Uruwashi Camelia and ignored this and Just Try, but when I finally gave this song a good listen, it became my ultimate favorite. It has a sound that matches the sound that H!P is aiming for, and doesn’t stray from the average progression you would expect for an idol group. Plus, after seeing it live at HinaFes 2017, I also know how exciting it is to see it performed live, even if you’re standing behind the members while they’re performing. Overall, the song is hardhitting, and a great way to set the pace for an album or concert.

Hyoumen Chouryoku ~Surface Tension~

The percussion before the bass line hits in this song reminds me of the scene in  Bob’s Burgers where Bob and Linda go to Cake (Season 2 Ep 8, for those who don’t know what I’m talking about), but as soon as the bass line hits I can tell that I am going to love this song. It’s the kind of funk and disco feel from Japanese Idol songs that I love, which is part of why I loved Tokyo Girls’ Style so much in 2012. The chorus is interesting and keeps me hooked, and I love the high notes in the second half of the chorus. This song is definitely going to be a hit at concerts, and I’d love to see what kind of choreo it has.

Konya dake Ukaretakatta

The vocoder in the hook for this song reminds me of a vocaloid song, which is almost on par with what you’d expect for an H!P song post-Michishige Sayumi, but the music video is pretty on course for an indies group song. I haven’t actually heard this song more than once or twice, but it’s not unpleasant to listen to. I just can’t think of it as anything other than a vocaloid throwaway song. Beyond that, it’s not anything special.

Shuukatsu Sensation

I always thought this song was weird because none of the members are old enough to have any experience with job-hunting for a career after college, which is what Shuukatsu is. It’s also kind of odd that this became the main song for their 2nd single, especially considering Waratte and Hanamoyou are both much better songs, but this song isn’t bad by any means. The kind of 80s bad boy vibes it gives me are especially funny considering the content of the lyrics and the aesthetic of the Music Video. I also am not a big fan of the key shift for the last chorus, but I guess it’s kind of a standard part of pop songs so I can’t say too much.

I Need You ~Yozora no Kanransha~

Tsubaki Factory’s singles have each featured a song that includes a spoken interlude or several spoken lines, and this one starts off the bat with a series of spoken lines from a few members of the group. This song comes off as a ballad, and usually I dislike ballads unless they catch me and make me want to sing it, but in this case it’s got a hard-hitting electronic instrumental accompanying the bittersweet lyrics so it has a different feel than your average idol ballad. The vocals of this song are sweet and I’m almost disappointed I haven’t listened to this song more often before now.

Kanousei no Concerto

This song comes out of the gates sounding like the opening to a shonen anime from 2014. I am in love. The bass is amazing and the progression is literally like any anison I have ever heard. I literally don’t know what else to say, I just am sitting here with a big grin on my face as I hear this. If you enjoyed early ClariS or any anison from a female vocalist really, I recommend this song.

Shunrenka

The pace of the opening of this song is kind of an abrupt shift from the previous song, but I always thought this song was pleasant. I think listening to it, the lyrics make me feel like I’m listening to a much older song (like, a 70s kayokyoku or something). Despite the overall cheerful feel of the instrumental and choreography, the chorus feels extremely sad and lonely, which adds to that feeling.

Date no Hi wa Nidokurai Shower-shite dekaketai

I can tell where Tsunku was trying to go when he did the composition for this song, but I have to admit that I really haven’t liked any of the songs he’s produced for Hello! Project since probably 2013 or 2014. Something just falls flat while I’m listening to this, even though there’s some interesting vocal progression in the verses.

Kaerou Let’s Go!

The opening of this song made me think this was from Maeyamada Kenichi, but it’s actually Hoshibe Sho and Kodama Ameko, which was shocking to me. It’s a pretty generic J-pop song; I wouldn’t even go so far as to say it’s what you’d expect from an idol group because of the strings and acoustic guitar. I guess if I had to guess an idol group that would do this song, it’d be Vanilla Beans. The ‘lalala’s before the verses make this feel like it’ll be a hit in concert, and there are some melodies in the verses and chorus that I love.

Just Try!

This is another modern Tsunku dud to me, which almost hurts to say. There’s some interesting vocals in the B melody, but recently Tsunku has a really bad habit of messing up his progression to a point that it makes the songs unlistenable. For your average pop song, there are two main melodies (A, B, or verse and prechorus), the chorus, and sometimes a bridge. As a result, your average pop song follows this progression: A, B, chorus, A, B, chorus, bridge, chorus. Tsunku’s songs follow a pattern more like this: A, B, A, B, C, Chorus, A, B, A, B, C, D, chorus, bridge, B, C, chorus. It feels like… too much, and it’s hard to keep track of what’s going to happen. After listening to previous earworms like Kanousei no Concerto and Kaerou Let’s go, this song is just exhausting to listen to, and I just kind of want it to end. Sorry Tsunku.

Junjou cm 

After the disaster that was Just Try, this song is a breath of fresh air. The violins in the chorus are gorgeous, and the progression and feeling of this song are like an anison, similar to Kanousei no Concerto. However, this has a twist in the arrangement that gives it the H!P feel, and I remember when this came out it I said it was one of my favorite H!P songs in a long time. The two part chorus definitely gives it the feeling of a shonen anime opening, and I love the bridge as well. Plus, despite the lyrics being a little weird, I’m a fan of them and they kind of remind me of Ponytail to Shushu’s lyrics.

Waratte

I was in the middle of the second chorus for this song before I realized that I hadn’t actually written anything down yet. This was my favorite Tsubaki song when it came out, and it’s still up there. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air after two EDM heavy songs in a row, and I love the pastel colors in the music video. I love the modern disco/funk heavy songs that Tsubaki has in this album.

Yuki no Planetarium

I have heard 3 seconds of this song and I can already tell you I am going to love it. Where Junjou cm and Kanousei no Concerto were 2010s era anime songs, this is definitely a late 90s anime song with a modern arrangement, or even a mid 80s kayoukyoku covered for a modern audience. The clarity of the piano and acoustic guitar in the instrumental breaks feels great and the instrumental doesn’t feel too heavy, plus, as I’ve been listening, I’ve noticed how well Tsubaki Factory’s members’ voices mix together. This doesn’t sound like an H!P song, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

Uruwashi no Camelia

As I stated above, this was my favorite Tsubaki song from their first single when it first came out. I love the concept and I love that the lyrics are written as though it is a song from that era (before Japanese writing was standardized). The mixing on the song makes it sound like it’s coming out of a radio for the first half, and I just love the whole thing. Unfortunately, it’s not really meant to be more than a kind of niche experimental song, and probably won’t be performed too often, but I can keep listening lol

Hanamoyou

This song has some weird contrasts between the chorus, verse and prechorus. It kind of jumps from being a very serious song, to having a brief, bright break in the prechorus, before going back to sounding very heavy in the chorus, with some weird rests put in for dramatic effect. I personally originally liked this song a lot, but now that I’m hearing it like this I’m kind of exhausted.

Teion Yakedo

Yes. This song is what put Tsubaki over the edge for me. It really started the whole trend of their songs sounding like well put-together anison, and I hope that trend doesn’t stop anytime soon. I love the costumes for this song, and Kishimon’s vocals in the climax are amazing. It’s not particularly exciting, as songs go, but it’s easy to listen to and hypes you up like you should be, plus at the time it was a much different song than what anyone had come to expect from H!P. I can listen to this song on repeat without getting tired of it, but it’s not going to get stuck in my head anytime soon.

Happy Cracker

I’m a sucker for songs with a ska flavor, but I really wish the brass in this song was real instead of midis. This is definitely going to be the kind of song to open an encore or end a harokon. The rap interlude kind of caught me by surprise, but it wasn’t terrible. Beyond that, it’s not too exciting, but definitely a hype song.

Furisakemireba…

This is a pretty standard ballad. The first half of the song is done with only a piano arrangement, before switching to something more standard (by H!P standards) for the second half. There’s some weird percussion happening here that I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I really like the vocal harmonies the girls are giving us here. I could see a different arrangement being really good for closing concerts, but as this goes it doesn’t really give me any clear idea of how it would be done live.

 

Overall, this was a pleasant album. I don’t dislike any of the new tracks, and the only tracks I really had a hard time with were the ones I anticipated to (sorry Tsunku). This album isn’t the kind of album I would be able to listen to over and over, but now that I’ve heard the songs, I know which songs I will definitely go back to listen to again.

Beyond that, the most I can think of is that I wish H!P would stop releasing double and triple a-sides. I appreciate getting 3 music videos for each release, but it’s clogging up their albums with too many single releases and really ruining the charm of listening to a release and finding a song that isn’t an a-side that you really like. Overall, this album could be 8 or 9 songs shorter and I wouldn’t miss anything, and the progression would probably be much more enjoyable.

As it is now, it doesn’t feel like a full album, but rather just a collection of songs. (I hope you understand what I mean)

Best Pick:
Kanousei no Concerto
Teion Yakedo
Yuki no Planetarium