True Life Seek

The facts may prove that this video is about Maimi Yajima and Natsumi Abe going into a ramen shop. This is what they tell me. I am under no certain terms to have to believe them. So I don’t. Let me tell you what this video is about.

Natsumi is sneaking Maimi into a club. I don’t blame her.

I know they say this song is a funny little song about the difference that a 16 and 26 year old feel when it comes to love. Play on words, etc. Sure, the translation may prove that. Keep your facts to yourself. Do you know why they are talking so much about love at 16 and 26 years old?

It’s simple! They are interested in each other!

Look at how Maimi is dressed. She’s not dressed like that to get some ramen. She’s getting ready to tear up the dance floor.

And then there’s Natsumi, her pimp.

As Natsumi blabbers on and on, our heroine, Maimi, looks upon her with boredom and contempt. Now I know Natsumi can be boring, but if I were to go to ramen with her, I wouldn’t be bored by conversation. I’d probably try to dig deep into the mind of a vehicular homicide suspect. But Maimi is bored because she’s not here to play CSI, she’s here to dance at the club.

Maimi is the best.

I repeat, Maimi is the best.

A simple scene here that proves me to be true. What kind of job could this man have? He opens the door and quickly looks at those first in line. Disgusted, he looks at the next group in line and gives them a quick nod. What kind of job looks at people in line and decides who gets to come inside and who doesn’t. That’s right. A bouncer. It’s a club.

Look! Couples!

Ahh the friction! You can’t doubt this anymore. I applaud H!P for such an effort in this video.

Because do I ever need a way to justify listening to boring song. Maimi Yajima is one of my favorites in the H!P universe. Natsumi Abe used to be one of my favorites. This combination should have been the merging of past and present into one giant of a force that would have swept me off of my feet. It didn’t. It’s sweet, sure. Play on words, haha. Nothing much more to it. That is a shame because Natsumi used to be a little energetic and Maimi is probably the definition of it right now.

But I knew this was coming. Any look at Natsumi in the last 2-3 years would suggested this route. If Maimi was not in this single, it would be indistinguishable from all of her other previous efforts. This is something that I can imagine both those who love and don’t care for Natsumi to agree on. She’s gotten stale. Well, there was The Stress, but that’s the exception here. Anyone that releases the same thing over and over will grow stale. Ayaya got stale after a few years of ballads. Besides the lyrics, what is the difference between 16sai and Sweet Holic? Nothing but Maimi.

This has got me worried for Maimi’s future solo career too. Taking a quick look at the solo careers of Natsumi, Maki Goto and Aya Matsuura (Version 2) does not give me much hope. Only Maki broke away from the ballad and, worse, the boring mid-tempo songs. Thankfully, C-ute is only 1 year old to mainstream Japan so the country is not bored with the group yet.

As for the songs without any video involvement:
01. 16sai no Koi Nante - I’ve said my piece about the song itself. (**1/2 in an extremely biased rating based on Maimi Yajima being in this song)

02. Watashi no Koibito nanoni - Again, just another Natsumi Abe song that has Maimi attached to it. I only listened to this once and don’t care to listen to it more. (*1/2)

Posted on January 16th, 2008 by broomhead. Filed under PVs, Reviews.
Tags: Aya Matsuura, Hello!Project, Maimi Yajima, Maki Goto, Natsumi Abe