So sorry for the wall of text, but I really wanted to do a more 'proper' review of this one. I have a lot of opinions on it for sure.
Plus, this is so complete I don't have to write a separate thing for my blog. Win-win!
Watched it in full Monday night. I didn't really know what to expect. Like I wrote before, B3 is one of my favorite stages so seeing it redone was gonna be interesting to say the least. In the end, I was entertained and impressed. I guess you can stop here if you don't like reading so much.
I really like how this team sounds as a chorus. Their sound is very idol-ish but not insanely high-pitched like Team KII. It's cool to see that SKE48 has three vocally diverse teams. The rendition of 'Futari nori no jitensha' was what moved me from "hey this is pretty cool" to "I'm officially impressed." They fuckin' nailed that song, and that's a good thing to do since it's one of my favorite group songs of any stage. I've really forgotten how insanely awesome some of the songs in this stage are.
MC-wise it was pretty routine. They had a few slip-ups and such, but it was more cute than anything else. It's cool getting to see them find their comfort zone in that area.
As for the units, 'Tenshi no Shippo' was... eh, okay. Their choreography and timing were a bit off.
They need to get a little more into it, too. I'm sure they'll improve and Kasumi is a great fit for this unit. Pajama Drive stepped up the game, though. There were some surprisingly decent vocals coming out of this unit, and their dancing was really good. Mano Haruka gained some cool points with me. Also, the center girl (Yamashita Yukari I believe?) is gonna be one to watch for. I think she has some great potential.
And then the one I've been dying to see and dreading at the same time: Junjou Shugi. This is probably my favorite unit ever. Haachan, Matsuyuki, and Moeno/Nakayan totally rocked this song. For it to live up to the original was going to be a feat. Well, it did, but in such a different way I have a hard time comparing the two. The original is so good for a whole set of reasons, and this version is terrific for a slew of different ones. Comparing Hara Minami's singing to Katayama Haruka's is like comparing apples and oranges. They're both awesome but in such different ways that I can't really compare them well. In all honesty, there are things I like about their rendition of it over the B3 version, but things about the B3 version I like over theirs. In any case, this was a terrific performance. Minami's vocals were awesome and also,
nice job Takagi Yumana! I totally did not expect that from her. She was great. Kyouka was the one I was most eager to see leading up to this, and she did a good job, too. She has a very idol-ish voice but she kept right up with these two heavy hitters. Anything she may lack in vocals, she made up for in dance. She was spot on with it and I'm not surprise at all that she has a history in ballet. Very cool job, girls. ♥
Anyway, now that I word vomited over one song, on to the rest.
'Temodemo no Namida' was very average overall. Kaneko Shiori was good but not much more than I expected. She held her own on this song though, which is commendable. This is an easy song to fail at and she didn't. What I
didn't expect was Nakamura Yuka to be the highlight. She has a really typical, higher-pitched idol singing voice but she's able to use it in very good ways. It's a cute take on this song, but it doesn't really touch the original for me. It was enjoyable, though. 'Kagami no Naka no Jean D'arc' was pretty awesome. Madoka and Erika are great for this song and the others did really good too. Erika was visibly into it(and pretty much every other song
). It was cool to see her having a lot of fun with it. I've gotta learn who the other girls are pronto. The one in the red jacket and shorts was pretty awesome, too. Overall, it was done very, VERY well. Two years later was good, no major notes on it though. Inochi no tsukaimichi is another amazing song, and they did another amazing job. I can't even really point to just one particular thing about it. The group was just in total sync during it and their awesome team vocals shined again. 'Kiss shite son shichatta' was pretty fun, as was 'Boku no Sakura'. Wasshoi E was really fun, as expected. They did a good job with this song. However, I always laugh when they get to Nakamura Yuka. "Haruru, Erika, NAKAMURAKUN, Kasumin! E! E! E! WASSHOIIIIIIIII!" It just stands out so much.
I'd say it was a great performance simply because they managed to not have a ten-girl pileup on that little stage.
The last two songs were done well too, but not too much to say about them.
As for girls, what a shake-up! I had listed my "looking forward to" list in the ranking thread a while back, and the top three were Kasumi, Erika, and Kanon. And well... one out of three ain't bad I guess.
All said and done, I was very impressed with one particular girl. She had an awesome stage presence, danced great, seems very talented, can pull off both cute and sexy on a whim, and has
great hair. It might be early to totally write it in stone, but I seriously do think that Umemoto Madoka is my Team E oshi. Absolutely love her energy. I was totally smitten by the end of the show.
Coming in at number 2, albeit a very, VERY close #2, practically a tie really is Yamada Erika. I always thought she did alright in the single PV's, but in this stage show... My GOD, what a stage presence! She was really energetic and into it. I loved watching her, too. I also noticed Sakai Mei several times. She's really pretty. I also found Nakamura Yuka to be MUCH prettier than many of her pictures let on. Kobayashi Ami seems pretty cool, too. She looks a little bit like Maeda Ami to me. Ueno Kasumi is pretty cool as well, but I wish she had been a little more "into" it like a lot of the girls were. She seemed to just be 'there' a lot of the time. Still, they're new, they'll all improve, and THAT will be a sight! And of course, Isohara Kyoka was pretty darn cool. Her dancing was sweet. Hara Minami also wins some points for some great vocals and general coolness throughout the show. There's so many other faces too that I had "hey, that's cool" moments, but I'll need to watch this a few more times and learn some names before I have a solid ranking beyond 1 and 2. I didn't really notice anyone who "sucked". I was a little surprised by the lack of Kanon. She had a good spot in most songs, but I just didn't have hardly any "wow" moments with her. It seems like she'll be the Mukaida Manatsu of KII, where she'll be the one management pushes and be on the spine of Team E DVD's, but the attention is really elsewhere otherwise. Not much else to say right now about the rest. Some need to fine tune their routines, but that's to be expected with this stage being just short of two weeks old.
So, all said and watched, I'm really pleased with this team and remake. They did a good job of making this show their own and watching all of them was ton of fun. I'm really happy that SKE48 has three teams I am completely in love with, and I very much look forward to seeing more of them in the future. 最強チームは E! E! E! E!