Hey! Say! JUMP - Arigato ~Sekai no Doko ni Itemo~ PV review

And I just might be doing about a PV review a day with the rate I'm going. Hope no one minds.

This PV is actually one that can be seen as important for Hey! Say! JUMP as it is the first single after their first album and marks the start of the change in music style and look for the group. Even though they have had a single to break away from it with Magic Power, the rest do tend to follow more on the lines of Arigato ~Sekai no Doko ni Itemo~. I think as the group has been moving away from the usual fare FIVB groups get at first this is rather important as they have to find a way to find a music style that is their own so they stand out from the groups that came before them. I personally love HSJ's new music style especially some of the changes it brings to the group when it comes to looks and performance.

A marching band to fear.

I like how they made the outfits look enough alike that you can tell they all belong to the same group while changing them up to separate the sub-units. That said I prefer the style Hey! Say! BEST was given over Hey! Say! 7.

Who needs ground to dance?

 I do not care so much for the outfits they wear for the dance segments though. It probably would not look so bad to me if there was not so much white in the background, but then again I really have no clue what they were doing with the knee wrap things they have going.

Careful now, he's still jail bait here.

This is also the start of Johnny's letting Yamada Ryosuke act like hot stuff in PVs to the joy of many fangirls. Or at least I do not remember him being as in your face with the smoldering looks in previous PVs.

"...and it was this big."

To actually go back to talk about the PV and song itself. I like the song for incorporating all the languages it does. It definitely brings the message that HSJ may be aiming for a more international fan base, or at least recognize that there is one for them. So it is also nice that the PV adds in that little bit of international nod with the screens that have "thank you" in all the various languages on them.

Almost there, kid.

By now Nakajima Yuto is reaching the end of his awkward growth spurt. He is in need of a hair cut here though. But at least he does not look as much like a giraffe anymore.

All hail Johnny's.

Another thing I noticed that has begun for the group with this PV is the growing emphasis on the dance. Sure  they had a more dance-centric PV earlier with Your Seed, but it really was not so consistent. With Arigato and most of the following PVs the dances are all something that pops out with the steps and moves being more complicated and unique than before.

Go towards the lighted entry ramp.

And what is a futuristic PV without a space ship? Even though the CG is still pretty apparent and does not always fit with the guys on the screen it is definitely a step up from what it had been in past PVs which I would credit the advances with technology more than anything.

Yamada is winning this game of red light, green light.

To go back to the dance, again I feel like they finally figured out that using the guys in choreography that only a group as big as HSJ can do was the way to go. Which is great to me, as I really felt HSJ was able to really justify the group size with Your Seed, as it was the first choreography I had seen that made me feel like there was no other Johnny's group that could really copy it, if just because they just did not have enough members to make it work. So to see that getting picked up again with Arigato was a delight for me.

If this is the inside of the space ship, where are the controls?

Of course even with the changes for the group they still do the group shot where everyone looks stoic. Something that was with them from their first PV, but I guess at least now they pull off "cool" better.

Captain Arioka, master of the vertically challenged.

Another thing to notice is that Yamada's center position is not only flanked by Chinen Yuri but also Arioka Daiki. I guess Johnny's figured that having the three shortest members of the group for the front made the group look more balanced or something. But hey, at least it gets a member of HSB up near the front instead of it all being just HS7 members.

HSJ try tae bo.

Just need to comment on how light Yamada's hair looks in these scenes. I know it is probably the same hair color as the other scenes but all the white seems to wash out any of the darker color to it.

Ground control to Major Yamada.

And since we have space travel we have zero gravity shots. It is nice that they mix the members up a bit so it is not just the most popular members together.

Just here for the pretty.

And of course a Takaki Yuya screen cap, just because. I am a bit miffed I could not seem to get a better one of him, but that is fine. He is sporting one of his worst hairstyles here anyway. Seriously, why this wavy/curly hair style a fad with the Johnny's guys? It looked good on no one.

"Thanks for all the fish."

And the song ends with the space ship in outer space. Not sure why a song about saying thank you would lead to the guys boarding a ship and leaving the Earth, but I guess it looks kinda nifty or something?


Like I mentioned Arigato is a good marker for the kind of music and even PV the guys would be doing as they entered a new era for the group with their first album behind them. It will be interesting to see if they keep this style after their next album or try to move to something else, but I for one hope they keep this style for a while longer with maybe a shift away if they do another JUMP Band song, but hopefully the next one will have a more mature sound/image to it.