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

I dunno. I think the only reason for me to put this song on my playlist is because it's Sakura.
I'd probably would never give it another shot if it was some other group.

I liked the MV more... there're some good scenes; Marina's reflection stilling and Rena's books location are my favorite, but super cute Pon is there too, of course.

I disagree about the screentime... Marino appears for just a moment and then she's gone like usual, I can't even remember if I saw Uemura, and in general popular members get their usual screentime.
I'm not one of those fans who check exactly how many minutes (or seconds) a member gets, but once again it feels frankly unfair to me... especially because this single may be last one for less popular members to get a fair spotlight.

3kis are here already, fast, strong and amazingly ready

 

Indeed, although I've stopped commenting on this topic any more. I've accepted some things about my kami-oshi many years ago...

 

Loved the nostalgic feeling of the MV. So pretty!

Also, best screentime distribution since Cool BY FAR

This might be the next Omotta Yori, a song that buddies will have fun in concerts

 

For a song titled Dorōn Senkai-chū, I was expecting a few bird-eye's views from a drone. The lyrics sound more like someone is using a drone to follow a love interest (the word stalker came to mind, LOL). I like the song itself, light and refreshing. The MV is nice because it gives screen time to a lot of the members, other than that it seems a random collection of scenes that have little to do with the lyrics.

I appreciate the English subs, except that to be picky, @1:42 it reads "...a drone is wheeling above", while a more natural translation would be "a drone is flying (hovering?) above".

Finally, I thought S&F was being daring lately by trying out new centers such as Rena and Ozono. Nothing against Honosu, but was there nobody else up to the task, besides her and the other usual suspects (Morita, Ten, Karin)?

 

Today I woke up with the urge to listen to Δρονε again...

Well, it's the 5th time now and the song grows with me something like, sky-rocketing grow! It's amazingly catchy, makes you happy! I am sure that what @watash.Iwa said above, this will be the ideal concert closure. I was completely wrong calling it a Nogi song after the first hearing. It's a bright, happy, shining Sakurazaka song something that only Sakura girls could deliver.

I was also very positively surprised to see the creators using Greek letters for drone. What you all don't know (how could you, it takes a Greek to see that) is that these letters (with doubling the initial Δ which is in capitals, in its small form δ), make the word TREE:

Δ ρ ο ν ε ---> Δ ε ν δ ρ ο = Tree (Sakura tree or Keyaki tree it doesn't matter, our group is a tree group).

So yes, this happy song (and its MV) has gloriously entered my group of all time favs for Sakurazaka46.

P.S. And of course I have to appraise the copious camera time for all members and also in such a way that brings out the beauty of each girl in an amazing way. Just two words: GREAT JOB!!!

P.S.2 I am waiting for a who's-who-singing-what to see which girl is singing "... kimi no koto" in such a cute voice that kills me every time I hear it.

 

With Start Over being officially released Wednesday, and on sale Tuesday, the Tsutaya store at the Shibuya scramble already has their displays up (click/tap for full-size photos):



EDIT: Special edition of the new release now available on music services.

EDIT2: A new pic of Shibuya showing a big sign for Start Over on the other side of Center Gai street from Tsutaya. Just below and to the left of the Ikea sign:

 

I thought the same thing, I translate the music into Spanish of the 3 groups and this specific song, I didn't use the word "dron" even once, I changed drone to "Love", "A love that goes around" , "Dron senkaichu" because at no time do we see a drone or a shot similar to something that "spies"

 

I don't think it's right to put Hono along with those other three bc this is only her second center song with a music video. But it's true that S&F is practically pushing Hikaru, Ten, Hono and Karin as the top members of the group. At this point it's clear 1ki will never get a center song with a music video accompanying it.

 

I'll be a little conspiranoic here, but I think it's worthy sharing this thought:

It seems that the Sakura Eight / BACKS system is still being active, it's just that is not visible this time because they haven't even announced to have a Sakura in this Senbatsu.
In the jacket covers one can see that 3rd row members are featured along with the center like BACKS members usually do. Also, even with another center Dron, which is another senbatsu song, the members of each row remain the same, you can see the screentime is very focused on 1st and 2nd row members, specially in those have been in Sakura Eight before. Dron MV isn't even featured in the Tsutaya store which makes me think the MV was decided to be produced at a latter moment so there wouldn't be only 2 MVs.

Personally, I'll consider this single as having a some sort of "Sakura Ten" since there are 10 members in 1st and 2nd row, but it's understandable that people do it as having no Sakura.

But I do think the Sakura Eight will be back for next single and 3ki will be included, if they're not then the singke after it.

 

Official song releases, here are the missing four
Kaze no Oto

if the video does not show watch the video here

Konbināto

if the video does not show watch the video here

Anthem time

if the video does not show watch the video here

Isshun no Uma

if the video does not show watch the video here

Also: Start over! / Seijaku no Bōryoku / Drone Senkai-chū

(Main post update: Corrected some song titles)

 

Well. It seems we got a summer single with summer songs for the first time for this group. What does this mean? Lord Voldemort is defeated.

Natsuno Chikamichi set the landmark for the change of this group. Lyrics are now positive and filled with strength. Seijaku no bouryoku might be a song with depth but the lyrics indicates it's about gaining strength and find hope rather than be swallowed by darkness and stay lonely. It was fine to be lonely in Keyakizaka's lyrics. "If you're not here, I will be fine".

Airi said on her blog she teared up when she was trying to be alone in the room and listened to music. She can never be alone, she needs to be around people. I don't think 3rd gen resemble 1st gen that much. They are serious in different ways. 2nd gen is on a whole another dimension though (bunch of goofballs).

3rd gen has now performed two royal road songs you expect from other groups for their A-side especially Sashihara-P's IkoNoiJoy group. Anthem time is a typical summer song you never saw from Keyakizaka. But what differs Sakurazaka from the other groups they use composers who normally makes A-side for summer singles for B-side songs. Anthem time is not something Sakurazaka put effort into to show a MV. We get chaotic stuff like Start over instead.

Nazca, Soulife and Bugbear can make these type of summer songs as well, but they are not doing it with this group. The question remains for me if we are ever gonna see a return of Soulife and Bugbear for A-side.

Remi Takenouchi and her team is also improving the uniforms. It was off to a awkward start but they seem to get a hold on it now. At least for 3rd gen. This is the second uniform that follows the pattern of naval/marine concept. I only wonder when management will let 1st and 2nd gen embrace it. They can't continue to be separated from each other, they have to become as "one Sakurazaka". 1st and 2nd gen have been wearing uniforms with non-existent or anonym concept which wasn't the case for Keyakizaka's army concept.

This is also the first single I have enjoyed from start to finish. I was never a fan of that anonym Sakurazaka approach. Management and Akimoto have the guts to give them a summer single and mostly thanks to their optimistic worldview makes it a reality.

From Seijaku no bouryoku they pushed Yamashita, Kojima, Murai, and Taniguchi. They threw in Endo for a solo part even if she is not visible in the MV. But for Anthem time it's more like Natsuno Chikamichi where every member participate. When they combine members in small groups in Seijaku no bouryoku I could only detect Yamashita and Taniguchi. The others vanish and you can't distinguish their voices. However, this doesn't rule out Kojima, Murai, and Endo for future solo performance. It's still early in the game to have an opinion. I feel many in 3rd gen have song voices so it's tight competition among members. It's either survive or die (become irrelevant).

Regarded 6th single slots for Meet & Greet it seems 3rd gen doesn't have similar problem as 2nd gen and remaining 1st gen. Itoha has sold out 5 slots and she reminds me of the slow start of Nijika and Manafi when they had 24 slots. She is selling out but at a slow pace. But it remains to be seen with 6th round if she keeps selling because she is far behind Enriko's 15 slots. Meet & Greet is also more difficult to sell out than handshake events.

 

Seijaku is beautiful. Drone is forgettable as a song but the MV reminds me of Nogi's Atarashii Sekai.
Yet to try the other b-sides.

 

My thoughts on the single:

Start Over;
Excellent song, I liked it upon first listen. Having seen the tv perfomances I enjoyed it even more.
Seijaku no Bouryoku:
What can I say, perfection. Definetly one of my fav songs saku has released.
Kaze no oto:
Another great song I have listened to it 4 times already, really curious who the center is.
Konbinato:
I don't care much for it, it's not a bad song just not for me. Most likely will grow on me when I have seen it performed, or when I have listened to it a few times.
Anthem time:
It's a cute summersong, it's a grower but not bad!
Isshun no Uma:
I really, really love Karin's vocals in this one. It's not my fav song on the single, but Karin's vocals make up for it.
Drone senkaichuu:
Also one of my new favourite songs. It's so cheerfull, the mv amongside it was also perfect might also be the reason I like it so much.

--

All in all I really like this single, even though there are some songs I like less I can't say they are very bad.

 

Oricon first-day sales of 352,384. (source: Oricon)

This compares to 285,277 for Sakarazuki, 324,658 for Samidare yo, and 307,647 for Nobody's Fault. It brings the group back to approximately the first-day sales it reached for Futari Saison (353,640). Nowhere near their all-time high of 638,802 (Garasu wo Ware)...yet.

For 46/48 groups' sales histories, see the Stage48 Oricon page. Hinatazaka's last single (One Choice) had first-day sales of 392,701, their highest ever (they were at 348,189 for the previous single, Tsuki to Hoshi). Nogizaka's last single (Hita wa Yume) was at 419,000.

EDIT: Start Over has also entered the top ten in the Billboard streaming chart (at #10), possibly for Sakurazaka's first time there. (source 1, source 2)

 

Talking about Meet & Greet...

Here it is Sakurazaka46 5th Round Meguri Sales

Att:
* Koike and Miu SOLD OUT

 

Well with these 4 songs we get the whole picture for 6th single, do we? We're not expecting more, I guess...

My 0.2 cents about the whole 6th experience:

Sakurazaka46 has reached another mountain top. Personally I wouldn't mind if the 7th is a kinda flat journey, we've already been given so much with this single that any possible production mistakes will be absolutely forgiven, by me at least. This is how thankfull I am for what we've got already.

For "start over", "seijanobou" and "Δρονε" we've said a lot: They are all masterpieces, each on it's own respect. What about these 4:

What can I say about "Kaze no Oto"? I love jazz, jazz rock and jazz orchestra. Sakurazaka46 jazz tune? Yes, please and Thank you!!! Already a favourite, what am I saying... a top favourite. I wonder what the choreo will be...

"Konbinaato" is not at the level of the previous 4 but it has its own strengths: It is a song that can set fans on fire and open-up the "hot 2nd part" of a concert. And that short piano and guitar interlude is a sparcle of genious.

"Anthem" is an absolute archetype of an idol song, one that we could have on any anime with the theme of idoling. It is in stark contrast with the Keyaki-like seijanobou, in the lines of...: "OK girls you did fine with that dark song. Now we'll give you a toy to rest". However it can serve as a background song for the 3rd gen to run around the stadium cheering fans, drenching them with water, play with each other or making noise in general...

Finally, "Isshun no Uma" is a bit of a weak point. It's like a fine dessert that one cannot enjoy simply because the meal was too much and too delicious already. It is a fine song but the internal competition in this single is too high already. It definitely needs more listenings and how it would look like on stage.

In any case this 6th single will be a landmark for Sakurazaka46. I am happy...!

 

Sakurazaka46 6th Single "Start Over" 1st Day Oricon Sales

Total: 352,384 copies

This is their highest First Day!

 

Some of the big music stores sold out on the first day, with or without some regular edition CDs left. This happened with early Keyaki sometimes, too. I hope we're now back on a new upward trend. Possibly the sell-outs are because the shops estimated low need for stock, rather than that the sales are so extremely high. But sales are certainly high enough to put a smile on my face. In any case, the sold-out stores should be restocked quickly.

Shibuya Tsutaya:

Compare with the same shot in my post sixth from the top of this page, showing the store's display as it began (with MV at the image of Karin's incipient nosebleed).

HMV:


Tower Records Shibuya:

 

Billboard Sales from July 26th ~ 28th

Total: 472,227 copies

This is their highest as Sakurazaka.
* It seems that IRL Meet & Greet helped this single

 

So after trying all the b-sides, I must say they are all excellent on their own but some of them sound indistinguishable on first listen, i.e., they are all "loud" and up-beat so Seijaku, like its name (lol), stands out in that sense. I had to listen a few more times to fully appreciate the parts I liked in each song.

My ranking would be: Seijaku >>>>> Kaze no Oto > Start over! > Conbinato > Isshun no Uma > Drone > Anthem time

Seijaku is a masterpiece for all the reasons everyone above has already listed and more. Also just realized the intro music reminds me of Heel no Takasa. Kaze no Oto is amazing but I wish the parts of the chorus didn't sound so loud and "fuzzy" compared to the rest of the song. Start over! reminds me of Jouken Hansha and Jamaica Beer; in other words, it's very Karin and I love it! Conbinato sounds like a fun 48G stage song and a certain... Touhou doujin song that I can't remember at the moment I love Isshun no Uma's chorus especially the "kanjou no mama ni~" part and Karin's bridge. It's sweet and melodious. While Drone is a perfect, summery idol-like song, Anthem time is a bit lackluster imo.

I think the center is Koike (the opening lines are definitely her) or it could be a Kobayui-Koike W-center but less likely imo. I am not 100% sure ofc but the solo line distribution is probably:

1st verse: Koike -> Habu -> Kobayui
1st chorus (the "mazatte"): Kobayui
2nd verse: Fuyuka -> Uemuu -> Kobayui
2nd pre-chorus: Koike
2nd chorus (the "mochiron"): Koike
bridge: Koike -> Kobayui -> Koike (the "nee")