Single AKB48 26th [Manatsu no Sounds Good] 12/05/23

What's there to be angry about? This single is dedicated to Acchan. The girl's leaving soon, so let her have all the screen time. Plus, come next single, Sasshi's gonna be center anyway.

Just kidding.

But yeah .. Sasshi's stuck in a weird place where she's not really the new gen or the old gen. And right now she is still just #9 from the last election ... so can't really have more screen time than say Tomochin or Kojiharu. But honestly, after the next election if she gets a high rank ... she will start to get more screen time in future PVs I'm sure. So yeah, I believe this is the last PV she's going to be left off of.

 

Yeah, I'll let her have the spotlight for now, next single she better get more screentime. but for someone who came 9th in the election, she hardly gets any screen time.

 

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsSsGw_Mm4[/yt]

PV youtube
well I like it

 

the "kiss of life" scene of miyuki for yukirin,

i have an opinion for that,

now that mayuyu become center, she will rarely attending akb theater just like acchan on team A,
miyuki will become team B new power to help yukirin.
(great imagination isnt!)

 

That's unlikely sincce N3 is starting soon and Milky isn't even participating in AKB national tour.

 

I watched the PV and things finally became clear. The director is some kind of wota psychopath whose oshimen is Mayu and that decided to spoil the beachy single with a PV showing his hidden perversions...it reminds me of the movie 'Dungeons and dragons'...the so-called 'director' was only a fan of the games and the movie was a huge s**t...

 

watched the pv,
the best part for me was the instrumental during the credits!
i so hope this will be on sakiko's album release!!

 

Would you mind expanding on that idea a little more?

 

It seems like it and if you've seen the documentary, it would definitely reinforce this statement.

And I would also like to mention the instrumental at the end (similar to how Kachuusha ended with an instrumental, too). I'm not going to complain though cause it was definitely beautiful. I hope there's a chance that it might be on Sakiko's album. It would be really cool.

 

I think HKT's Kodama Haruka is wearing an actual uniform too

 

Essay-length post ahead, as per my usual :

PVs can be different things to different people, especially in the -48 franchise. Some like them purely because it has young, innocent, pretty girls prancing around and dancing everywhere. Others might like them because of some PV's narrative function - i.e. they tell a nice little story that goes well with the song. However, in most cases, they're pretty standard fare, with little in the way of depth (and that's really missing the whole point - these ain't trying to be Oscar nominees and they don't need to be).

How does one explain the Manatsu no Sounds Good (abbrev. MSG) PV, then? If one is to be drawn into the speculative discussion surrounding the whole PV premise, one could deduce the presence of strong links to what is happening with AKB48 in reality. You don't need to go too far to figure that out: Acchan's graduation, the rise of Team 4, Aki-P's reference to "a year of reform", the list goes on. I prefer not to join in that debate and speculation - you could go on for years surrounding the symbolic imagery and mysteries behind it and we might not go anywhere. I'm simply going to look at it as a PV. And from a purely PV perspective, I daresay it's one of the best -48 summer PVs I have ever watched, if not the best AKB48 PVs I've ever watched.

(continued below, spoilered for length)

Spoiler

Let's get things straight: MSG is by no means a perfect PV. Some of the opening scenes (after the music intro has begun) are irrelevant and detracting - we can get rid of the Star Trek/Planet of the Apes science-fiction concepts like the other-worldly alien symbols and the EMG defence shield. The pre-requisite-for-summer bikini-clad dance shots are another (awkwardly placed and ultimately unnecessary in the grander scheme of things), but it redeems itself for reasons I'll get to a bit later. There are also some minor tidbits scattered throughout the whole PV - some slight continuity issues in regards to the Mayuyu and Acchan shots, the scene where Mayuyu's casually riding on a bicycle with a near-dead Acchan on her back just seems a little too awkwardly calm given what happened before, why are girls suddenly turning into Eiffel 65? - and I'm still not sold on the white bikinis.

One also cannot go without mentioning the (in)famous Call of Duty/Battlefield-esque, and certainly very meme-worthy, sniper BOOM headshot scenes. I think they have some deeper meaning beyond just "girls getting killed by terrorists in Counter Strike... for the lulz", but whether or not you think it's any relevant to the PV at all, well, I'm not going to the be the judge of that.

Really, that's just all nitpicking to be quite honest. This is another PV where I really want AKS and King Records to grow a pair and release this straight to Blu-Ray or 4K. I can see that they've totally 1-upped EbiKatsu in the quality stakes. Every scene (yes, including the aforementioned dance shots) looks cinematic - one could imply such too, not just from the quality of the shots - that sole Mayuyu and Acchan shot in the middle near the end really has some great depth-of-field rendering going on producing a very nice, meaningful image - but from the aspect ratio. It's definitely more solidly rendered than, well, most AKB48 Type-A PVs produced so far. Noticeably, they fixed one of their biggest problems in the lighting stakes - compared to the harsh-as-sandpaper lighting in EbiKatsu, it's just so smooth and balanced here in MSG. Shinji Higuchi shows that even in a simple PV as MSG, he's the master of CGI in Japanese modern film: the backdrop of a dusty, dry and barren land of torment against a war-torn, shooting star-filled sky is beautiful, for example.

The cinematography and shot composition are excellent and carefully shot - even if you disregard the speculations and symbols behind it all, every shot (I'm not talking about the dance shots here ) seems to have some meaning: from the really intimate, and nearly gripping, close-ups of a blood-streaked and battle-worn Acchan conversing with Mayuyu during the last moments of her life, all the way to the "angelic" optimism and "victory" in the denouement shot wide. The color palettes chosen also portray a deep (if slightly awkward) contrast between life (the saturation of the blue sky, sandy beaches, grassy fields and a bright sun, where everything is at peace) and death (the desaturated, muted tones and strong, dark shadows representative of the valley of hell and rain, where nothing is at peace).

But it's the little details that make it all work. The rain brings another level of adversity, hopelessness and melancholy to the whole theatrics in the valley of destruction. As are the ripped EbiKatsu uniforms and imagery references (I'm talking about that path where MayuAcchan were walking up) - a definite nod to continuity and the past (so the girls' ship turned around and Guam went into a futuristic apocalypse? ) and a dark twist to the formerly "bright and happy AKB48 of the summer". The difference between the "students" (in their tracksuits) and the "older girls" are clearly emphasised throughout (and being the centre of speculation). Colours slowly becoming more vibrant and saturated once again as the denouement draws near. And the final landscape shots (i.e. the credits) set to a calming and reflective piano score - rounds off the meaningful impact behind what just happened (and I'm serious here - give me that piano track, or better still, the piano score. I love it). Everything here is exuding quality and careful artistry/attention to detail has been demonstrated - a rare sight in the land of AKB48 PVs.

But, you might say, this is supposed to be a summer PV. Everything is supposed to be "happy". MSG, the song, is brimming with energy and nice to dance to. Let me digress for a bit and say that Inoue Yoshimasa (of EbiKatsu, Beginner, River fame) is a bloody genius composer (why do I seem to like all the songs he's composed so far? ).
Yet it's all set to something so dark, atmospheric and deep. I agree that the contrast between the song and the PV is a bit jarring, as per the transitions between the narrative and the dance shots - it's as if Higuchi-san is telling us he was forced to put it in "because it's a summer PV tradition and all summer PVs have bikini-clad dance shots by default which you can't leave out".

At the end of the day, though, who the heck cares about it's flaws. It leaves a powerful impression on you, as much as PVs (let alone AKB48's) are capable of doing anyway. It makes NMB48's Nagiichi looking rather awkwardly cheap and low-budget in comparison. It puts EbiKatsu and PoniShu in bed. This is one case where I feel it's a damn disappointment this wasn't made into a 30min PV, let alone a full-length feature film.

tl;dr. It's simply brilliant.

 

I really enjoyed the Mv, I found a very good story, although it is strange in a few moments ^ ^

 

Not a bad PV aesthetically,
but for me the PV doesn't fit the mood of the song [worried]
If the song's mood was Beginner-like, it would fit better. :music:

 

True... Mayu is still relatively young and can be considered a candidate to succeed Acchan.
It's up to Aki-p to decide so all we can do is guess until the time comes.

I agree with sikanwan...

I know it's a summer time song and it should include some summertime scenes like the girls wearing bikinis and/or a beach scene, but why does the PV begin with some apocalyptic scene then flash to a beach scene then flash back to Maya helping Acchan? This is my point which some others have referred to.

Sure, we can all guess that it's a gradual shift from a Acchan-centered era to a new person-centered (Mayu?) era as some are guessing that it's a hint of Mayu being chosen as the new center but we won't know until it happens.

The PV itself is still somewhat convoluted/disturbed and confusing. I don't understand the symbolism in the PV

At least the song was pretty good and has a catchy beat.

Think of it another way...
Did the Flying Get PV match the song? What did the song have to do with the martial-arts themed PV? Sure, the PV looked good but it didn't make sense with the song/lyrics

 

Totally agree, that's what I mean. Do you imagine songs like Beginner, River, Alive...with the Ponytail to Shushu PV? It just doesn't make sense. We're used to PVs that aren't related to the lyrics of the song, but this time the PV isn't related to the kind of song itself...If it's all about renewal they should have found another way...and save the dark war-like stuff for another song...

 

lol, you guys need to appreciate more, it's not really that bad, is it?
whatever people say, for me, this is one damn good pv

 

I think one of the problems with the song not fitting the PV is the overall "sound" of the song.

It's an upbeat and somewhat "happy" sounding song... But the PV, if you muted it, would give an impression that the song should be... Dark. But dark is the last thing I think of in hearing this song. It seems like a mismatch.

 

did Jurina die again?

 

Reading the previous comments, seems like I'm the only one that think the song match the PV