Piece Ep. 4 first impressions

One of these weeks I'll get this review up closer to when I first view the episode instead of a couple of days after now that I have found a source for it that has it up much quicker than the first episode.

Before I begin this review I want to give a warning that there will be discussion of attempted rape, so if that triggers you than you might want to skip the review or at least scroll down to the screen cap of smiley Hasegawa Jun on a sunny day and start reading from there.

We start right where we left off in the past episode with Mizuho having been caught red handed by Narumi in his mother's room. He confronts her and Mizuho is at a loss what to do or say.

Narumi tries to force a decision out of Mizuho, but only ends up scaring her. Even more when he decides to force himself on her even though she cries for him not to. He does stop without getting very far noting that she is actually crying.

Terrified, Mizuho runs out of the house now that she has the chance. Nanao shows up shortly after she leaves and Narumi asks her about why the door to the room was unlocked. He does not seem to get an answer he is happy with and turns off the TV that is showing a younger him staring at the camera monitoring him.

I really hate this (attempted) rape trope and I am very unnerved with how frequent it is used in shoujo manga. And by the romantic lead character no less. I will give Piece credit in at least having Narumi having enough decency to stop before getting very far and the fact that this act is the one that ends the relationship, as honestly it should be.

The thing that makes me hate this trope so much is that usually even after it happens the heroine for some reason still wants to be in a relationship with the guy or that the guy is made to look sympathetic. This seems to be avoided with Mizuho clearly being distraught enough that she no longer wants to pursue a relationship with Narumi and that Narumi continues to be the asshole he always was. And it even makes sense for his character to try something like this as he already know he can be dangerous and that he is sex driven when it comes to girls.

I can only hope that if they do get together later in this drama he has changed (which does not seem all that likely from the first episode) or will change or we will have one of many countless shoujo series with an unhealthy relationship being toted as an example of true love. And that will definitely sour me on this drama real quick.

In class the next day Narumi acts as nothing is any different and continues to flirt with other girls. And with that the relationship is over.

It is probably not the most ideal solution to the events but it makes sense seeing as Mizuho had been keeping the relationship a secret when things were going well for them so after something like that her just trying to put it all behind her is a rational reaction. And she does not try to get back with him or show any real want to really do so which is a plus, because again that is probably the worst thing about the rape/attempted rape trope.

Back in the present day Mizuho meets with her college boyfriend and they end up breaking up. When she questions him about it he tells her that he felt that she was always cold, if I am getting it right.

She remembers happier times and is just confused about her feelings about the matter as she does not seem to see what he told her.

(Also to note I did not recognize Hasejun until this episode. He actually looks older until back in his teen days when it looked like he would never look older than 14. But since he gets to do much more this episode, like actually talk and have more than one facial expression I could tell it was him. But I do feel embarrassed for taking this long to notice.)

With the boyfriend broken up with and Mizuho feeling unsatisfied about really not understanding others she ends up focusing that frustration towards something, trying to figure out who Haruka was seeing before she died. She ends up seeing Haruka's mother again who talks about how she found out about Haruka seeing someone and being pregnant by finding a message on her cellphone.

Without much to go on Mizuho figures her best bet is to get in touch with Narumi, as he was the only one she knew that had talked to Haruka in high school.

The two meet up and Mizuho asks in a very round about way what Narumi and Haruka's relationship was. Narumi says that there was nothing between the two. But since she brought up the topic of someone liking Haruka he tells her that he knew of someone that did like Haruka and from the clue he gave her Mizuho is able to guess that it was Yanai Takashi who was on the same committee as she was.

Later she calls Yanai up and asks to speak to him about Haruka and we end the episode on that.


With about 95% of the preview being with scenes with Yanai in them I think it is finally truly safe to say his character will finally have his time to be a focus of the story. So rejoice Matsumura Hokuto fans, you no longer have to try to catch snippets of him in an episode or have to settle for his appearance in the opening theme for a change.

Hopefully now that we are done with seeing Mizuho and Narumi's high school relationship come and go and the focus is shifting towards the mystery part of the series we will be seeing more of the supporting characters in general. Of course I doubt things will end without Mizuho and Narumi continuing to interact, I think it is pretty clear Mizuho is probably going to need Narumi's help in solving the mystery as he was the only one to talk to Haruka and seems to know a lot of what was going on with people in high school, which makes sense with how many people he knew. But for the next few episodes it would make more narrative sense to not focus so much on them as we need to learn more about the characters that were introduced back in the first episode or this is going to be a pretty weak mystery if we do not have the potential motives for suspected characters fleshed out well.

Other Idols Master Post 001

Since it seems the Master Post thing is going well I am adding one more, this one for the other idols that do not fit under Johnny's or AKS.

Unfortunately I do have a member leaving news for this post. But honestly this was probably a long time coming. Happiness/E-Girls member MIMU, will be withdrawing from the groups. She had been on leave for a while because of academic reasons, the rumor being that her grades were suffering so her parents made her stop activities to fix that. So having this announcement is not a great blow as it was always very iffy what her future would be, especially as she was only one of the dancers for the group, not one of the two vocalists.

Oricon Style article (Japanese)


In much happier news rookie idol group, Love La Doll, will be releasing a new single on November 7th. The title of the single is Honey Bee which is produced by Armyslick, who has produced for K-pop idol group KARA. This will be the group's second single after debuting with their first single back in August.

Honey Bee

Love La Doll

Sidelining Sexy Zone

It is not that I do not care at all for Sexy Zone anymore, but I just do not feel drawn to this group as I have the other groups that I do love. And I will not be completely dropping them either, as there is enough to keep some interest from me but just not enough to try to follow them as closely as my favorites. But probably the biggest change is that I will only be picking up albums from now on from them, unless they come out with a A-side single that I actually love.

Even from their debut I just never felt the kind of draw to the group as I did for NEWS, Hey! Say! JUMP or Kis-My-Ft2. I did like Nakajima Kento and Kikuchi Fuma, still do, but my favorite B.I. Shadow member was always Matsumura Hokuto. The other three members of SZ were unknown factors to me, though I thought Sato Shori held promise. But I also did not care for their debut song, though I liked the B-sides to the single. Lady Diamond I thought was a step up but Sexy Summer ni Yuki ga Furu is one of the weakest A-sides I have heard from a Johnny's group since Wonderful Cupid. And while I do not hate it like I do Wonderful Cupid I still have no care for the song.

When I compare to the other two FIVB groups I love I think three singles in has given me enough to judge it they are a group worth following closely for me. For NEWS and HSJ I loved their major debut singles (Kibou ~Yell~ and Ultra Music Power), did not love their second singles (Akaku Moyuru Taiyo and Dreams come true) as much but enjoyed them still and loved their third singles (Cherish and Your Seed). In fact the A-sides to the third single of both groups has remained a favorite song to this day. And to me HSJ's third single was really important as it was the first song they had that really showed off what they could do as a group of ten that smaller groups could not when it came to the dance for Your Seed.

SZ in comparison is the reverse so I think it is best to go ahead and stop getting their singles. I will pick up their first album though, as I still have hope for this group and there are reasons for me to not just drop them completely. But even though I like their B-sides it just is not enough to justify getting the single to me.

My main reasons for sticking with this group are Nakaken and Kikuchi, honestly. Not just because I was a B.I. Shadow fan, but because every time I see a new performance with them I can tell that they have really found whatever they really needed to shine. In fact I would say all the members of BIS have done better since the group was disbanded then when it was together. And it really shows with Nakaken and Kikuchi as with SZ they are the ones with the most experience as well as the eldest two so they have to step up to be the leads for this group, especially since it is a smaller group.

Nakaken and Kikuchi have amazed me with how strong they are performing as I do not think this was something that you could see so much during their Junior days. Sure it was unmistakable that Nakaken just exuded charisma on the stage even from his first appearance on Shounen Club, but I would not have guessed that he would be able to just own his solos like he does now. And Kikuchi always came off reserved and I never would have guessed he had the voice he had until SZ and him getting to do solo songs instead of a solo line here and there. These two are probably going to become amazing performers and will be great role models for the younger members of their group so I definitely will want to keep an eye on them still.

The others I just see potential in them but they need to show a bit more than that to get my interest. Until then they are just adorable kids, with Shori trying really hard to be able to fit in with Nakaken and Kikuchi but probably still needs some more time to mature. Also I would not be surprised if Shori's voice is still changing and the other two need to get through that nebulous period and I fear they may end up like Chinen Yuri, wonderful child voice but not so pleasant to listen to adult voice. Especially with Matsushima So, since he is the one with the good voice though from what I can tell Yo Marius is not so bad either.

I also do not want to give up on this group completely because I have had groups grow on me. TOKIO did not take long for that but it took until about last year for me to love Kanjani8. So while SZ does not appeal to me much now I know that can always potentially change. Which is another reason I think switching them to an album only group is for the best with me.

In summary, I will not follow SZ as much as before but I am not going to completely ignore them either. The only releases of theirs I will bother getting from now on will be albums for the forseeable future. Nakaken and Kikuchi rule, the rest need more time, possibly.


On another note, there is some SZ news to share as well. In early January the group will be having a Winter concert tour that will take them to Osaka and Tokyo (Yokohama Arena). It is scheduled for five concerts for now.

I think this is the sign that SZ will be taking over the multiple concerts in a year role that Hey! Say! JUMP held, as I doubt HSJ will be having winter concerts this year. But we will have to wait and see about that to have it confirmed.

AKS Master Post 007

One of these days I will have one of these posts without a graduation announcement in it. But sadly this is not one of those days.

Mitsumune Kaoru from AKB48 has announced that she will be graduating from the group. She cites that she has been suffering from health issues since August 2012.

I am willing to believe her as she was only just promoted to a team and seemed like she would have been one of the main up and comers of the group if she could stay. She definitely benefited from being a member as she had acting roles in a couple of dramas like Ataru and Shiritsu Bakaleya Koukou.

Very rarely does a member from AKB48 catch my eye or attention but Kaoru did just that with her performance in Bakaleya. She has the talent to be a good actress and I hope that her short time with AKB48  will help her out if continues to pursue that career choice.

~*

In good news NMB48 will finally be added to the Live On Demand (LOD) service by DMM.com. This means that people can pay to see video of a live show for a fee, so those who cannot make it to the theatre or could not get a ticket for a performance can still watch it.

Melos no Michi article (English)

NEWS' WORLD QUEST

It has been announced that NEWS will be doing the image song for the NTV coverage of the FIFA Club World Champion 2012. The title of the song will be WORLD QUEST.

Sanspo article (Japanese)


Still no concrete news about the single that is supposed to be coming from the group but it is probably safe to say that this song is probably going to be on it.

The championship will be in December and I have the feeling that will be the month we will get a new single from NEWS, as most of the other Johnny's groups will have releases close enough to the month that it would be too soon for something new or be busy with other activities. NEWS does not have those issues and if WORLD QUEST ends up being the A-side having it released around the time of the championship just makes sense.

I watched the first episode of the drama Hana no Zubora-Meshi and got to hear more of Pekoponpekorya, and it is a cute and fun sounding song. Yet it is not the kind of song I would expect to be an A-side track as it does not sound as strong as Chankapaana. So I was hoping that there would be another song to be the A-side of their upcoming single and have Pekopon either be on it as a double A-side or a B-side with a tie-in.

The Junior Concerts are Coming

Two concerts featuring the Juniors have been announced, one for the Tokyo Juniors and the other for the Kansai Juniors. Information about both came be found on Johnny's net.

The Kansai Junior concert will be held November 23rd in Osaka and the ORIX Theater. It will headline Nakayama Yuma and has the Kansai Juniors Kiriyama Akito, Nakama Junta,  Shigeoka Daiki, Kamiyama Tomohiro, Kotaki Nozomu and Fujii Ryusei listed by name under his. And of course it mentions that there will be other Kansai Juniors participating.

The other concert will be on December 16th at Yokohama Arena and from the title is to feature the Fresh Juniors, or the newer Juniors.


It is nice to see Yuma back with other Kanjuu, especially past group members. It is a bit odd to just have it randomly in November as the Kanjuu normally have Christmas concerts that he could have done with them, so I wonder if there might be a bit more to this concert. Though that is just me being hopeful, as I really would love to have something big happen for the Kanjuu soon.


The last time they had concerts featuring the Fresh Juniors was back in 2009 when they came out with Nakayama Yuma w/B.I.Shadow and NYC boys, so I am very curious what Johnny's has planned for this concert. Especially since they are using the Yokohama Arena, compared to a hall where the 2009 concerts took place. I mean it was at the Yokohama Arena that Hey! Say! JUMP and Kis-My-Ft2 had their debut announcements. I do not think we will get a debut announcement but there is a presidence about this venue that something should happen/be announced at this concert.

I hope that at least we will get a new group or two formed for the concert, maybe a special temp unit. I cannot think of a group that I would like to see debuted so soon, as it would really be only Bakaleya6 and noonboyz, maybe Snow Man, to go from but none of the members in those groups are Fresh Juniors. And as much as I love B6 I would rather have them wait a while before debut as there are some things they need to iron out for a group before I would consider them debut ready.

In any case I know I will be excitedly awaiting any news from these concerts.

Piece Ep. 3 first impressions

Figured I should at least try to keep this on schedule. And thankfully there are subs out for at least the first episode which has helped fill in blanks I had for that episode and helped expand my understanding of what is probably going on.

We start off again in the present day with Mizuho talking with Haruka's mother. Mizuho tells her that they were not really friends and that it was probably just something Haruka believed on her own. Haruka's mother then leaves her and shortly after Narumi comes up to speak with Mizuho. They talk about Haruka considering Mizuho and she recalls the scene from last episode where she gave her a handkerchief and believes that might have been why.

We then go back to the second year of high school, with Narumi and Mizuho laying in his bed. After a cell phone begins to go off Mizuho leaves the room to search for a bathroom. She finds a locked door during her search. She ends up talking with Nanao and learns that the locked door is to Narumi's mother's room. Mizuho then begins asking her about Narumi. Nanao points out that Mizuho probably likes Narumi which seems to unsettle Mizuho.

Yasui Kentaro finally gets to show up in the drama for a short scene that is also Matsumura Hokuto and Suzuki Airi's only appearance for this episode. Kinda annoying that they were featured in the preview for this episode to only have such a small amount of screen time. Oh well, Yasui and Airi are pretty cute in their roles here and Hokuto does get to speak at least.

Mizuho ends up calling off meeting with Narumi for a while. During this time she ends up having a talk with her friend that has a boyfriend. Her friend tells her what being in love feels like then points out that Mizuho seems like there is someone that she likes.

Afterwards Mizuho finally decides to stop doing what she believes is expected of her and just do something because she simply wants to. She goes to Narumi's house and when no one answers let herself in as the door was unlocked and waits for Narumi in his room.

She hears someone moving in the house and goes looking for them, believing it to be either Narumi or Nanao. She ends up finding the door for Narumi's mother's room unlocked. Curiosity gets the best of her and she goes in. She finds a room that looks like an office with a desk and lots of shelves with books and videotapes. She accidentally discovers that the binders are logs all about Narumi. She then sees the videos are the same and watching one learns that his mother seems to have made him into research material.

Mizuho is caught watching the tape by Narumi and we end the episode there. And though it does look nice and dramatic there is also something that just comes off as odd to have Narumi just sitting there when he does catch her. I mean did he sit down and watch her for a bit before speaking or something? I hope this might be a bit more apparent with the next episode.

From the preview I may have to spend some time ranting against a certain trope in shoujo manga that I despise. I am disappointed with this as the series was doing so good so far. But we shall see how that scene actually plays out as there is still a chance that if handled well it will avoid my complete hatred.

Setting the preview aside this is not a bad episode. It does not seem as strong as the first two but I think it is because it is doing more foundation laying in this episode than story telling. That and as much as I have liked Mizuho and Narumi together I would like to see more of the supporting cast, especially the ones that have been highlighted in the opening theme as I would assume that would mean that they have a large role to play in the story eventually.

At least is looks like we have a reason behind why Narumi is a bit twisted as a person, as I doubt anyone raised like that would come out without being affected. And it helps clear who Nanao is as she is seen taking care of Narumi in the video and being concerned about his well being from being treated the way his mother is treating him for her research.

Hopefully there is a bit more movement with the mystery solving part of this series as the present day scenes seem to indicate that they are finally move towards something. Also it does not look like Mizuho and Narumi's relationship will be lasting much longer to judge by the previews.