Single Sakurazaka46 6th Single [Start over!] (2023/06/28)

Tremendously impressed. The song. The choreo. The dancing. The singing. The synchrony. The outfits (loose judogi-ish things that emphasize both flow and movements of the dance). The centre: Shizuki is something special, dancing, communicating and, apparently, singing. I've been slow to warm to her, but she is absolutely undeniable here. Top class.

The unity of motion of the whole group. Their sharp, large, exact movements. Shizuki is a Mon-level dancer, or higher. I think she inspires the other members, draws them forward by her excellence. The whole group moved so well.

Yuu and Nagi flanking Shizuki made (another) strong front three. Their dancing was great. (What seemed to be) their singing was outstanding.

On first few listens/watches, I put this MV in the stratosphere. I love Start Over and Natsu no Chikamichi, but I like this song, as a song, better than either. All three are great MVs.

The 3gens continue their galloping progress. The dancing and singing and expressiveness are at a new level...which is perilously close to being as high as anything Keyaki/Sakura has ever done.

Keyaki? Nogi? Both...and with their own flavour. Smooth, flowing, powerful singing and dance.

 

Indeed, these 11 are becoming increasingly scary... So much so soon? With the proper management they'll sure storm the industry...

 

Added the single details to the main post!

Also the remaining songs and their performers:
- Kaze no Oto (風の音) Rina Uemura, Minami Koike, Yui Kobayashi, Fuyuka Saito, Mizuho Habu

- Konbināto (コンビナート) Rina Inoue, Rei Ozono, Akiho Onuma, Marino Kousaka, Yui Takemoto, Hono Tamura, Karin Fujiyoshi, Kira Masumoto, Rina Matsuda, Hikaru Morita, Rena Moriya Ten Yamasaki

- Anthem time Rika Ishimori, Riko Endo, Reina Odakura, Nagisa Kojima, Airi Taniguchi, Yuzuki Nakashima, Mio Matono, Itoha Mukai, Yu Murai, Miu Murayama Shizuki Yamashita

- Isshun no Uma (一瞬の馬) Rina Uemura, Minami Koike, Yui Kobayashi, Fuyuka Saito, Mizuho Habu
Rina Inoue, Rei Ozono, Akiho Onuma, Marino Kousaka, Yui Takemoto, Hono Tamura, Karin Fujiyoshi, Kira Masumoto, Rina Matsuda, Hikaru Morita, Rena Moriya Ten Yamasaki

- Dorōn Senkai-chū (ドローン旋回中) Rina Uemura, Minami Koike, Yui Kobayashi, Fuyuka Saito, Mizuho Habu
Rina Inoue, Rei Ozono, Akiho Onuma, Marino Kousaka, Yui Takemoto, Hono Tamura, Karin Fujiyoshi, Kira Masumoto, Rina Matsuda, Hikaru Morita, Rena Moriya Ten Yamasaki

(TLDR; regarding the song titles - I took the romaji from Google translator, after I did copy+past the kanji/kana, so I'm sorry for any mistakes)

 

The ideal situation would be if we got two more music videos, one for 1ki and one for 2ki. But at this point I'm not even sure if we'll get a third music video.

 

Initial positions of Seijatsu no Bouryoku senbatsu:

Ishimori石森　Mukai向井　Odakura小田倉　Matono的野
Murayama村山　Taniguchi谷口　Endou遠藤　　Nakashima中島
Murai村井　Yamashita山下　Kojima小島​

Some comments from Japan:

• It's cheating for the 3gens to have "Bunny-Cat" (Murai and Yamashita) there. With those two in front, the dance always looks very skillful.
• The speed with which the 3gens have grown has probably surprised.
• This growth has probably excited management even more than otas.
• Suddenly going from the freshness of newbies in NatsuChika to this bewilders the otas.
• I look forward to the extremely high-level senbatsu battle that seems to be coming. I never thought they would come this far.
• I've watched Yamashita's dance move at 0:28 over and over again. Laughably outstanding. [Note: She makes a strong, firm 360. Hers is the best, smooth and sure, but Nagi, Yuu (with a bit of a late hitch), Miu, Airi, Riko, and Yuzu also do them -- and I can't see the four members at the back.]
  
  
• I also want to see Yuu-chan's double turn at 3:20. Not human.
  
  
• Isn't the growth of Endou, Odakura, Ishimori, etc., fantastic?
• For members who were such poor dancers they were weeping, to get to this level in half a year is no mean feat.
• This is the result of everyone working their absolute hardest to match the level of Bunny-Cat.
• Shii-chan's movements are all from another dimension.

​

 

I have to admit, for the first time ever, I too look forward to a very competitive senbatsu; even though I'm not sure we'll get it.
Right now we have the numbers and the talent to create something high level.
Yet I'm aware some members need to be on senbatsu because their position inside the group and their popularity, so I'd settle for a super-saiyan-song somewhere in a single, not necessarily the main one

 

Message video for the performance of 'Start over!' on CDTV on 6/19:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

'Start over!' performance today on CDTV (credit to uploader):

 

If I consider both Keyaki and Sakura discography there are many songs I love and some will never be surpassed, but this is probably my favorite choreo ever
Beautiful from start to end

 

Japanese comments seem positive, but there was one that said although it was good, it seemed somehow improvised. I might say that as praise. It clearly wasn't improvised, but well conceived and practised...with some loose elements that might have made it seem improvised. Maybe it was Karin's loose skipping all over the place, or the way the performance ended with the other members wandering loosely around. Lovely (and unusual) looseness.

Karin climbing the hill of idols always surprises me, and makes me fear for those she's climbing on. Here's another source for the live video, if needed and okay to post.

Karin is so much more comfortable speaking on screen than she used to be. Positive aspects of her personality now come across.

Am I right in thinking that Habu was featured a couple of times? As one might expect, she's the kind of person that gets better with age. She has been looking good and performing well recently.

Some Japanese comments from people who hadn't really watched Sakurazaka before and were captivated by the "sugoi kakkoii" (terrifically cool) aspect of the choreo and by "the centre's special atmosphere and how cute she is". One person said she had only been supporting male idols recently, but "Sakamichi lives!"

EDIT: The more I watch this, the more I like it. So much going on and done well. And Karin showing her potential.

 

Idols have long proven to be particularly strong, robust and enduring, while, at the same time, they are all super light-weight.

Karin was expecting (and craving for) this opportunity to center long ago. So much deserved IMO. This girl is not only super cool, she's so professional.

P.S. @ukifune is definitely the happiest fan these days...

 

Start Over has reached 4 million hits on YouTube. It now sits at 4,000,775.

5 million before the release will likely be difficult. Pre-release publicity -- which is now coming thick and fast, in magazines, on TV shows, etc. -- may help.

Meet & Greet sales. One more senpai, Masumoto, sold out all her 36. Four 3gens sold out all their 24 slots: Matono, Murai, Taniguchi, Kojima. Yamashita sold out in the 2nd week, Nakashima in the 2nd. Two images: results by totals, results alphabetical.


(click/tap to make legible)

A post from Japan on the "holy places" where the 3gens' MV was shot. With photo comparisons.

The locations in the MV were in Kisarazu 木更津, a place on Tokyo Bay but around to the southeast, in Chiba, looking across the Bay to Kawasaki and Yokohama, which are south from Tokyo city. The gym where they danced was at an old school that has been closed.

 

First performance of the short version of Start Over, on the Buzz Rhythm show on TV Friday evening:


if the video does not show watch the video here

The first TV performance was the full version, on CDTV last week. They left out climbing the hill of idols. And we saw from above he firm lattice of idol arms Karin was able to fall back into near the beginning.

Fans noticed Morita wearing the big glasses. I noticed, as I do with every version, how wonderfully full and sharp both Karin's and Ten's dance movements are.

 

O M G Marino at 0:35 sec...

Handshake sales mean nothing to me as it's completely out of my cultural mindset, so I support this girl for what she is nothing more nothing less but nevertheless: Why, just why this girl is not so popular?

 

The official website has confirmed that all 17 senbatsu members of 'Start over!' will be performing at Japan Expo Paris 2023 on 7/15:
https://sakurazaka46.com/s/s46/news/detail/E00247

The performance will be on the Ichigo Stage at 16:30-17:00 local time.

 

Digest video of the 3rd Gens omotenashikai got released. It will be included on Type-C & D

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

New music video to premiere tomorrow June 26th, 10pm JST. Link includes a ~1 minute preview! Twitter-Link

 

MV for Dorōn Senkai-chū (ドローン旋回中) added to the main post. Tamura Hono center.

 

Although too Nogizaka-ish its a fine (lighter) addition to the 6th single and I liked it. Especially the MV which is awesome. A hidden gem for me was at 2:24 with that pretty munchkin Marino... OMG she is so pretty and it pains me she is so underrated...

 

New song is cute but nothing special, but the music video definitely makes up for it. I'm a Hono oshi so I'm thankful for all her closeups lol, but in general screentime was good. This is probably the most I've seen Fuyuka in a while.