28 April 2012

Hey! Say! JUMP - Over PV review

Hard to imagine that I will already be moving on to my next project in about three days. I feel bad that I could not complete this one like I wanted to. But I think these reviews will help a lot to keep this blog at a post a day rate.


Today's PV is Hey! Say! JUMP's OVER. It is a bitter-sweet PV but not really because of anything in it but rather everything that happened around the release of this single. Just days before OVER went on sale the underage smoking scandal with Morimoto Ryutaro broke out. Of course Johnny's was not going to cancel a release so they just put Ryutaro on probation until the dust cleared then went on to have HSJ move on as a nine member unit. So this is the last PV we have with the group as a ten member unit.

And I know there are still fans that feel that somehow Ryutaro will return to the group, but it has never happened to any of the other groups that had similar scandals and I do not see it happening for HSJ. And with every release without him is another nail in that coffin as the group gains new fans that are not going to be attached to him as fans who were around when the group was ten members.

You know this is fiction when Nakajima is getting more attention than Yamada.
Another HSJ PV with a story line. It starts off with a scene before the song starts up. Yamada Ryosuke is looking sad at a phone while the rest of Hey! Say! 7 ignore him for whatever story Nakajima Yuto is telling. Chinen Yuri here kinda reminds me when he was still really small and would sit in the laps of other group members. I guess he should be happy that he is at least too big to do that anymore.

"Do you guys even know what a private call is?"
Yamada makes a call eventually and it is to Arioka Daiki, with Hey! Say! BEST who has a matching phone. After hearing that Yamada is down in the dumps he sets about cheering him up as all the other members instantly become concerned and take turns doing the same, all ending what they have to say with "over". Not that makes any sense as that is for radio communications not phones, but whatever.

Yuto tries to make a run for it.
The music starts and we get to see the guys at the dance stage for the PV. This is apparently at a university in Tokyo somewhere. I do have to confess that I do like the setting, especially as it is a real location, like the rest of the PV, and is outdoors.

Takaki ... must I really say more?
All the close up shots are inside what looks to be a hallway of the building. It is nice that they do not make fans wait too long to have all the members get their first close up shot, though most of them go by quickly unless the member has a solo line.

For double the fun.
The platform they are dancing on is reflective, and thus slippery. So I have a good amount of respect for the boys to be able to do their dance performance on it without slipping much. And also for the production crew that had to probably keep cleaning it all throughout the shoot.

HSJ showing off their silly walk.
The only thing I do not like about these outside shots is that they have CG applied to them later. I know this is partly because it actually was not a really bright day when they actually did the filming but I wish they could have lightened it up without it looking so obvious it was touched up.

You mean I can't have a large pizza the same price as a medium?
We get flashback scenes in the PV, so we can see Yamada being emo again. Then the other guys cheering him up.

"Cheer up Yamada, I have a coupon for free bread sticks."
Then we get these scenes with everyone in the foyer(?) area of the building. Only the ones in front are moving while the rest are in slow mo.

Love how no one seems to care about the random floating things.
 Of course being the ten member unit we get a 3-4-3 breakdown with the members.

Somebody's going to get hit in the head with something.
And I like how with the break down it is not just lumping the popular members together but mixing them up with the other members. Even though the popular members do get to be in front.

That is not how you go down stairs Chinen. -_-
 HS7 run down the stairs and...

"Hey! It's been a whole few seconds since I last saw you guys!"
 meet up with HSB who meet them after coming over from the far doors. Which means Yamada called them from a floor up while they were in the same building. Why? Why did he not go done and see Arioka instead? Did he really feel it was too far to go? Being emo is not an excuse for laziness!

"Everyone! Try to look cool!"
We get everyone striking a pose and camera panning back as the reflective platform. I really like the live performance of this song more, though they were only with the nine members of the group.

"Hold that thought."
Just want to mention that I think Yabu Kota looks good in this PV. He normally is not the one that I find to be the best looking but I find myself thinking he looks nice here and during other scenes on the PV.

I wonder if Hikaru realizes part of his shirt is untucked.
I also like that they did a good job of making sure other members get screen time with the dance segments by not always focusing on the middle of the group.

A happy Yamada means a happy HSJ.
Of course all the singing and dancing has made Yamada feel better. Which honestly it better seeing as they broke time to do so.

Blinded by the light.
And of course we get the end pose, which looks rather messy to be honest. I think they might have been better to end with the phone gesture with their hand like they were doing throughout the PV. Oh well.

What is with those suspenders? 
The PV ends with a close up of Yamada's butt. Okay, it is a close up of him putting the phone away in his back pocket but I doubt people were not distracted. Even though with those pants there is nothing to see.


A good PV, not one of my favorites but one I will not forget if just because of it being Ryutaro's last showing with the group, even though he did not get a lot of screen time like usual. 

But I do like the song and I am happy that it will finally be on an album. Though I do wonder if they plan on taking Ryutaro's vocals out of it. They did so with NEWS when Uchi Hiroki and Kusano Hironori had been removed and Ryutaro did not have solo lines in these songs so it would be easy to do. I guess we will see when the album comes out in a couple of months.

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