Sakura Gakuin’s 2nd album

Received this last Friday (two days after the release date), but as I stated earlier I’ve been sick nearly a week, so that’s the reason why I’m a little late with all my blog updates – sorry ’bout that. This album came in a huge box and I was like: what is this?! But to my big surprise it was the Sakura Gakuin album with a poster ^O^ I didn’t expect it to come with a poster, but I’m not complaining~ Also came with a nice little photo card. Got Taguchi Hana, one of the newbies of the group – she’s really cute ♥

This time we get 12 songs (previous album contained 10) so that’s really cool. I can already reveal to you now that I like this album even better than the first one and I’ve only listened to it 4 times! Should we get on with my review? :)

1. Verishuvi (ベリシュビッッ)
I find this song amusing to listen to. It has that sort of German folk dance feel to it sometimes or whatever it is. But apart from that I also think it has good vocals. You clearly get to hear nearly all members sing in this, which is a really good thing! I also think it was a good choice to choose this as an album starter.

2. FRIENDS
A fine song this is! I love the beat and the feel of this song. Sakura Gakuin always know how to make something that fills a person with great spirit and a happy feeling. That’s probably the thing I like most about them. It’s also songs like this you notice the big difference in each member’s individual voices :)

 

3. Please! Please! Please! (プリーズ！プリーズ！プリーズ！)
I love Please! Please! Please! – it’s such a “pleasing” song ;) Jokes aside, this is a fresh, catchy song yet again from Twinklestars and as always it makes me want to dance and swing a baton, lol. No, seriously it really gives me that feeling! xD

4. Rapicamu (ラピカム)
There are two Twinklestars songs on this album (yay) and the other one is really nice as well, but don’t beat their Please!x3 song though. With that said, I find this more original maybe? It has a different sound to it and as I like diversity this is definitely a plus. I just don’t know what the title is meant to mean… If anyone know please tell me ^^;

5. Hashire Shoujiki Mono (走れ正直者)
A sleepiece song which I like better than their last song, it’s more catchy, but still not quite a favorite song either. I don’t have anything against their voices I just can’t listen to this kind of song too many times – it’s too happy-go-lucky I guess ^^; But still better than their previous one!

6. Yokubari Fille (よくばりフィーユ)
Another song about food from Miniparty, this time about sweets I think. This is probably the one song I have to skip on this album – sorry I don’t have anything against both Yui, Moa and Hana – I just can’t stand the midi-like melody xDD Nothing personal.

 

7. Iine! (Vega Mix Ver.) (いいね！)
I’ve already posted my meaning of this epic BABYMETAL song in another blog post, but I guess I don’t mind repeating myself a bit ^^ This song is just wild! It mixes metal, electro, hip hop and idol pop – that alone has already earned them my respect. Apart from that it is seriously catchy, I have listened to it countless times already. Of course I’m kind of biased because Suzuka is my favorite member in Sakura Gakuin and I adore her voice, but no matter what you will have to admit this song has impact on the listener!

8. Otomegokoro (オトメゴコロ)
This is probably one of my favorites of the new album songs. It has a more serious tone than I’m used to hear from Sakura Gakuin and I like it! Some beats in me reminds me a little of AKB-songs, even though it’s vague. This is still a very different kind of song of course. Ayami, Ayaka, Airi and Suzuka have solo lines in this; I just love when they get to sing solo! They really have the best voices in Sakura Gakuin, it’s so weird three of them is leaving – and Suzuka is next ;__; Sigh…

9. Pictogram (ピクトグラム)
This song also has a new sound to it compared with the usual Sakura Gakuin songs in my opinion. The background music has almost a trance feel and the melody is heading more towards this new more serious/moody style than the usual happy one. I think this is a song that grows on one and I’m already starting to like it more and more as I listen to it once again.

10. 3 a.m.
This is a Ayami, Ayaka and Airi-only song and I guess a kind of goodbye gift to the fans? I would like to think of it that way :’3 This is also one of my favorite songs on the album. I like how it sort of mixes three solo songs together in one. First Ayami gets to sing solo and then Airi and then Ayaka. But every member’s part has a different melody and lyrics so it sounds like a medley. Ayami’s part is a sweet bright idol-song with an uplifting emotion, Airi’s is more electro-pop and slow-paced, while Ayaka’s part is upbeat eurobeat style. I think I like Ayaka’s part the most ♥ (sucker for catchy eurobeats :P)

11.  See you…
At first I found this song kind of plain, but with more and more listens this song is really growing on me! It has a catchy background beat and a lot of energy, very addictive stuff – haha. Apart from that I also think the song lyrics have a good message of being grateful for one’s friends and fond memories. Probably also one of my favorite songs of their new album.

12. Tabidachi no Hi ni (旅立ちの日に)
A sweet chorus song, which almost makes one emotional… Beautiful piece of music. This is the perfect song to end the album with. Makes me happy~

All in all a great release from Sakura Gakuin. They also said in an interview they had put a lot of work into this album and know I know why! It contains so many good songs I’m willing to forget about the Minipati song. I’m happy to have this in my idol music collection ♥

Now I’m just really curious about this LIVE DVD release. Did they perform any of the new songs I wonder? I hope they did, I want to see them perform these live ^^

Getting a lot of new nice things soon~

I’m definitely spending too much money this month to satisfy my shopping needs, but anyway, here goes.

Sometime this month I will get these lovely things:

Sexy Zone / Yuma Nakayama / Johnny’s Jr. 2012.4 -> 2013.3 Johnny’s Official Calendar
As there haven’t been uploaded any official pictures of the calendar yet I’m posting this very exciting picture from CDjapan. I’ve never ordered a Johnny’s calendar before, but as I love Sexy Zone I just had to get their calendar! I hope it has nice pictures, especially with Shori and Marius please ;D

LinQ’s 2nd single 「Calorie Nante / Kimochi / Te wo Tsunaide」
Around a month ago I got interested in this new group from the Fukuoka area, LinQ (rinku/link) who debuted in 2011. I love their song Calorie Nante and as I wasn’t able to find their music anywhere on the net (probably because they are a really new group) I decided to get the single. If you haven’t heard this song yet, you should listen to the highly addictive peace of work here:

 

(I will do a more throughout report on LinQ as soon as I get their single ♪)

aBUTTON Vol. 3 Tabi – Kariya Yuiko 刈谷友衣子(PLUP SERIES)

I finally decided to get this photo book, partly because I simply adore Kariya Yuiko but also because it’s impossible to find on the net as well ;( It’s quite expensive though; US$ 30 for only 95 pages! o_o But I really feel like I should give the aBUTTON photo book series a try. They do look amazing. I will scan and take pictures from it as soon as I get my fingers on it, I promise! I’m so excited for this omg.
BOMB! 2012 April Issue
It’s been ages since last time I bought an idol magazine. That’s the reason why I decided to get this BOMB magazine. I haven’t tried this magazine yet, but it has a section with Kariya Yuiko and idol groups such as Passpo, 9nine, AKB, Idoling!! and others. There are a feature and a poster with Itano Tomomi whom I’m not that crazy about, but I guess I could hang the poster in my Japanese classroom if I don’t like it too much :P I’m also just buying this for fun, sometimes you can discover many exciting things by buying at random~

Sakura Gakuin 2011 Nendo – FRIENDS –

Of course I’m also getting Sakura Gakuin’s 2nd album! This time however, I can only afford the regular edition… On the positive side though, this version have all members on it ^o^ It’s sad this album will be the last one to feature Ayami, Ayaka and Airi, but at least they are getting their own song. I look forward to the new songs and hopefully I like Mini Pati and sleepiece’s songs better this time :3

Limited Editions

 

 

 

 

 

That’s quite a lot for one month, don’t you agree? ^ ^;

BABYMETAL have done it again~

Holy cricket! They have done it again, BABYMETAL o_o I’m completely in love with this weird mix of tecno, rock, rap and pop!

Have been anticipating BABYMETAL’s comeback for quite awhile now, so am delighted to hear their new song ^o^ I really love how they mix genres like this. I would never had guessed it was possible to mix genres like techno and rock, but these members of the Juon-bu make it seem so natural and cool! And then they even added a rap part to the madness – lovely! ♥o♥ I think it’s cool when girls’ idols rap; it’s such a nice contrast to the sweet girly image they always have to maintain ^o^ And the dracula capes in the beginning of the video was just an epic intro (haha). Wuaah~ I really can’t wait for the release of this single!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
It’s out on March the 7th – so if you have the money (unlike me right now) I think it’s certain you won’t be disappointed by buying this release ;D