24 April 2012

Sexy Zone - Lady Diamond PV review

Meant to do this review much earlier but I kept getting distracted with other things. But I figured I put it off enough and I will need a break from Hey! Say! JUMP/NYC PVs for my PV reviews anyway. On that note I will try to post another PV review today so I can try to get them all done this month.


I am rather surprised with how much I have come to like this song. I blame the fact that it is just really catchy and I have been getting the chorus stuck in my head when I least expect it. Which is rather surprising as I do not have the single to listen to (I have to wait for my pre-order of NMB48's new single to be sent early next month to finally have it) so it is only there from the few listens of the song with the PV.

How exciting it must be for the Jrs to get an outfit that has not been worn before.
I honestly thought I was watching the wrong video at first with these scenes being at the start but with re-watches I rather like them. You can tell that they are trying to give the idea that this video is more the boys' idea than a director's but I am sure that is not really true. Still if you quiet your cynic side and play pretend with the boys it is all rather fun.

All the colors of the rainbow and then some.
I love the stage as it does fit the amusement park theme of the PV perfectly and is interesting to see throughout the PV as the camera only focuses on sections to make this area feel much bigger than it is.

The Juniors get to act as part of the scenery for the PV in their costumes.

Showing of the bling.
Thankfully SZ is without the roses this time but they are not without a gimmick, which this time are the huge gaudy rings they have on their gloved hands.

Also their outfits this time look to be homages to Michael Jackson's with the one gloved hand and the pants looking like MJ's iconic ones. I guess they decided to play up Johnny Kitagawa's quote of this group supposed to be sexy like Michael Jackson this time. Though I still refuse to buy into this group being sexy at this stage. Maybe Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma, but the rest have a lot of growing still to do.

A true diamond in this group.
Speaking of which, Nakaken of course looking good like always. I love that he and Fuma are featured rather prominently in the song, with the both of them getting most of the solo lines. But this song fits them a bit better with it being a love song and they have good enough voices to carry a solo line. In fact I was rather surprised with how much I liked their voices on their own as I never really noticed them much until this song. I think they have definitely improved and I hope they continue as a smaller voice like this will make weak voices more noticeable.

Showing off that ankle.
Another thing I noticed about the two older members of the group is that they seem to have some moves that the younger ones do not do and those are a bit more complicated. I think it shows the difference in experience seeing as the younger ones are also the ones newest to the agency. But it works with how the group splits itself right now.

Everyone! Stage right!
Overall I like the dance in general. It does not really stand out and has some odd looking moves but that is your typical Johnny's dance, especially for the younger boys. And it is not the dance that sells this song anyway.

SZ shares their stash of pixie dust.
For the second half of the PV the boys of SZ sprinkle magic dust on the frozen Juniors to bring them to "life".

If bugs were this cute who would ever want to squish them?
Which leads to many an adorable scene. So we get the true selling point of groups like SZ, cute boys doing cute things.

In Lady Diamond Land everything sparkles.
With the Juniors unfrozen they take up the usual role of back up dancers to the group.

"I am looking for a man with six fingers."
We get an instrumental break and while other groups would have it be a dance break SZ instead brings out more cute. Like Fuma doing a sword duel with two of the Juniors.

Singer, Dancer, Actor, Poet... an overused gimmick with his name meaning victory.
Also we get Sato Shori saying a haiku that he composed himself. After this and his "Sexy Rose" line in their debut single I am beginning to wonder if this is going to be a signature thing for SZ songs, for at least their start as I am sure once they begin moving towards more mature songs and looks it will have to be dropped as it is pretty corny for the most part.

So cute, but please do not be asking for touching and kissing yet.
Yo Marius has come a long way since SZ's debut and it is easy to pick up on with this PV. He seems much more comfortable performing and shows that he does know something about how to work the camera. It will be interesting to see how much more he can improve over time.

=o
The opening of the treasure chest, while random, is rather cute. Especially all the boys' expressions, though Marius and Shori look more shocked than amazed.

Are they in London then?
The PV comes to a close with more dancing but this time with smoke machines and glitter confetti falling down.
So how many cavities did you end up with?
I like how it ends with the big group picture of them all. Even though SZ seems to be sticking with the Juniors a lot I think it works as they are still a very fresh group and are probably still learning a lot so having the others there probably helps take some pressure off. It will be a bit sad when the Juniors are taken away from them, but hopefully by then they are all ready to be able to stand on their own and command the stage.


Love this PV for this group. This is a perfect PV for a young group like this and is much more fitting for SZ than their own name. It does make me look forward to their next release even though it looks like we will be going back to the usual volleyball support song, but I like those and I am curious about the lyrics with Shori having written them.

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