Author Topic: (Artist) Nakagawa Shoko (Read 456762 times)

starry01482 · « **Reply #1360 on:** December 15, 2008, 04:31:41 PM »

Sounds like you'll have to join Shokoholics Anonymous.

It's definitely a nice ballad, somewhat similar in style to the last single but possibly slightly better. Snow Tears was really quite a different style, more of a dramatic power ballad.

The video contrasts the cute Shoko of her blog and TV appearances with a more aloof and suave media image we saw in her last two videos. The former is shown as belonging to a more happy innocent past, the latter as being in the present. The intro is quite clever as she is shown humming a tune like it is something she remembers from the past. I think the video could have ended after the song had ended though, when it lingered on I thought it was about to end with something happening, but nothing did.
Otherwise a pleasant if simple video largely concentrating (understandably) on her face and expressions.

Timewizard21 · « **Reply #1361 on:** December 16, 2008, 08:51:21 AM »

Shokoholics LOL
That's a nice nickname for Shokotan enthusiasts.

Fuyu no Yuuenchi is a great song, I've just been trying to compare it to snow tears too much because they both have a lot of similarities.
They're both slow ballad songs about missing someone, they're both winter themed (actually FnY is more amusment park themed because of main chorus and the PV itself but there's some lines about winter at the beginning and snow at the end ><)
Shokotan definitely had more powerful voice in snow tears while in FnY she uses a sweet and distressing voice which kind of makes the song kind of harder to take in because it's a lot more sad

. Overall, FnY is a nice song and definitely one of my favorites.

The PV itself is more closely related to the song than some of her other PVs such as the setting with the ferris wheel and merry go round and the scenes where she's carrying a camera and taking pictures. I really like how they made the video of the past look like old footage. It showed a nice distinction between the happy past and the sad present. The scenes in the present was also a lot more colourful as well. The part where she hummed the chorus before the song started was a great addition too. It gave a small insight into what the song is going to be about and definitely set the mood that this was going to be a sad song. It kind of even made the happy past scenes sad

. Besides the past and present scenes, there was also scenes of Shokotan singing in front of a spinning merry go round (which is a major symbol in the song) that enhances some of the small parts of the song. It also deters us a bit from seeing a bunch of gloomy scenes of Shokotan. Overall, this is one of my favorite PVs as well, I love PVs like this one ><

I think the lingering part at the end of the video was to show the merry go round spinning again.
In the first chorus, she sings about how the merry go round stopped spinning.
The last chorus she sings about how it started to spin again slightly.
It kind of gives more hope to an otherwise sad and painful song since she's smiling and taking a picture at the end.
The PV itself started off with the merry go round and ends with it too so it probably symbolizes something.
Probably tears because she calls it the merry go round of tears and sings about how she's been holding her tears.
Or maybe it's just showing that she's ready to go on since the merry go round started to spin again.
I'm not really good at finding symbols so if anyone has any insights, please share it!

Just 2 more weeks until Magic Time comes out too. I'm looking forward to it more than Christmas and all the stuff I'm planning to buy on Boxing Day lol ><. I don't mind admitting that I'm a crazy Shokoholic ><. I preordered 4 copies of Magic Time (2x CD and 2x CD+DVD version) and 2 copies of Donyoku Matsuri in Bluray. Hopefully they add some extra stuff to the Bluray version. Five songs were actually cut from the DVD version

Timewizard21 · « **Reply #1362 on:** December 17, 2008, 05:31:12 PM »

There's a nice logo for Magical Tour 2009 now
The "Welcome to the Shoko Land" is awesome ><

starry01482 · « **Reply #1363 on:** December 21, 2008, 02:35:25 AM »

It's interesting how they are incorporating the funfair theme of the ballad into the logo. I suppose it was either that or the sports theme of Shiny Gate....the funfair perhaps suits Shoko better. I think there is a website called 'Shoko Land' if I remember right (a fan site I guess), and that also follows on from the Shoko Planet idea of the Big Bang album. And of course she is certainly individual enough to represent a whole world of her own.

SomethingWild · « **Reply #1364 on:** December 21, 2008, 06:15:53 PM »

Cool logo/title! Should be an awesome tour.

Timewizard21 · « **Reply #1365 on:** December 26, 2008, 07:43:21 AM »

Shokotan Magic Time Matsuri in SMOJ is set to air on Dec 27th at 21:00 JST
If anyone wants to send fanmail to Shokotan, you can send it here:

http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Info/shokonakagawa/mailform/081227/

If you're lucky, she might read it on air during the live program.
In case anyone is having trouble with what to put:

Mail Address - Email address

Name - Name here.

Address - For the postal code I just filled it up with zeros, the drop down box for the prefecture has an option for "outside Japan" which is the very last option.

Handle name - I just put my name in Katakana for this one. It should be ok.

Message to Shokotan - Message here!! I'm not sure if you can send messages in English but it doesn't hurt to try. I haven't seen her read messages in other languages for this before so it's probably better to send a message in Japanese.

wakaba_doll · « **Reply #1366 on:** December 31, 2008, 02:05:43 AM »

Magic Time is an awesome album

I think I love it even more than her first album! She's definitely growing into a much stronger singer.

More Shokotan in 2009, plz!

starry01482 · « **Reply #1367 on:** January 01, 2009, 02:33:35 AM »

Magic Time is a good album. The weakest track for me might be Ivy and I didn't understand the point of the Sorairo Days bonus track as well. But it certainly has some tunes. Interesting that they put both the ballads together on the album, maybe they could have been split. I like 'through the looking glass' being put ahead of Tsuzuku Sekai as I think it is a better song/production. This album was recorded over a much shorter period than Big Bang and perhaps that might give it a bit more unity in it's sound, though Big Bang also includes some of her best songs too.

Timewizard21 · « **Reply #1368 on:** January 01, 2009, 07:06:38 AM »

Did anyone else catch Magic Time Matsuri in SMOJ?
Shokotan read my fan mail!! ><
I just sent her a basic message because I didn't really know what to say

She started screaming my name a lot when she saw the message and she even said "Nice to meet you" and "Long time no see" in English so I guess she still remembers me. lol ><
I should have sent a more elaborate message but I was afraid I'd miss the deadline as well. ><
It's weird how the mail form is still up even though the event already passed. (It's still up for the other events too.)

She read some other fan mail from outside Japan too!!
I have a recording of the whole event if anyone missed it, I can upload it later.

I got my copy of Magic Time and Donyoku Matsuri Bluray today too. I don't have a Bluray player to play it on though. I'm going to have to pick one up after New Years. ;_;

Some songs on Magic Time are a lot better than some of the previews made them out to be. One song is Spiral which I didn't really like from the preview but liked it more after listening to the whole thing. It's interesting too because it's the opening song of the album (the first track is an instrumental opening. I actually like the new rock songs (Spiral and Brand New Day) in this album as much as her other songs ><

Sherbert iro no toki is a really catchy song that I can't stop listening to. Another song I didn't hear from the preview was Makaron Holiday which was another upbeat song like Sherbert iro no toki.

The Sorairo Days remix is pretty awesome too. Her voice is a lot deeper, similar to her singing in Tsuzuku Sekai. It's like a mix of Tsuzuku Sekai and Happily Ever After with a little bit of Calling Location mixed with the chorus of Sorairo Days and is a lot better than the remix on the Tsuzuki Sekai single.

A compilation of Shokotan throughout the year 2008 was also shown on the DVD as well and it was really quite moving even though an upbeat song like Ivy was playing throughout the whole thing. The same compilation was shown on Magic Time Matsuri. Hopefully the year 2009 will be another big year for Shokotan as well. ><

The album also came with a small picture of the scenery used for the Magic Time cover drawn by Shokotan which was really beautiful. I liked how the CD+DVD version of the album uses a normal size CD case instead of the fat one that the CD+DVD version of Big Bang came in.

Overall Magic Time is another great album released from Shokotan. It did seem a bit rushed since it contains only 3 singles that were released within 3 months I'd still regard it just as high as Big Bang (which was a really awesome debut album ><) The songs themselves are a good mix of Shokotan's singing style (rock songs, cute upbeat songs and ballads) and shows a good variety of those genres. I like how Fuyu no Yuuenchi is the song that's being used to promote the album too because I'm a big fan of Shokotan's ballad songs. I can't wait to hear some of these songs in the upcoming concert tour as well ><

starry01482 · « **Reply #1369 on:** January 20, 2009, 01:17:33 PM »

Interview/article

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fm20090109r1.html

Athough she describes herself in terms of being an idoru (manufactured entertainer), it does seem to me she has a kind of personality that naturally wants to entertain anyway, she likes to make people laugh and to entertain. She isn't a dull person with a pretty face like a typical idoru.

Recent blog photos

SomethingWild · « **Reply #1370 on:** January 23, 2009, 11:09:33 PM »

Does anyone have any previews of Shokotan's a la mode photobook?

starry01482 · « **Reply #1371 on:** January 28, 2009, 11:44:06 PM »

Quote from: BarrieV on January 23, 2009, 11:09:33 PM

Does anyone have any previews of Shokotan's a la mode photobook?

I don't understand Japanese but one page on the 'a la mode' photobook directed me to this one

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/081113/gnj0811130504009-n1.htm

Apparently the photobook includes pictures of her in a wedding dress and as a rock star....so the pictures here probably relate to the photobook.

SomethingWild · « **Reply #1372 on:** January 31, 2009, 12:26:06 PM »

Thanks

I hardly recognized her in the motorbike pic.

I found some more: http://sleepyjohn.com/news/shokotan-photobook/

Timewizard21 · « **Reply #1373 on:** February 02, 2009, 06:32:15 PM »

i have the actual photobook
i can pictures of it if you guys want it but i don't have a scanner so the quality will really suck ><

it has those pictures in it with a few more different poses and a few other different outfits
i'm not a really big fan of photobooks but this one is interesting and somewhat better than her last one
it also has a few pages about the fashion and makeup, a mini board game with a die and a cutout doll with some of the costumes she wore during her concerts
it's defnitely worth getting and it's only 1,800 yen compared to some of the other books

also here's the video for Magic Time Matsuri that i was going to upload a month ago

i've been really busy with some other stuff so didn't get a chance to ><

http://www.zshare.net/video/549029808d4c74ef/

she read my message about 44 minutes into the video
my message was really lame too because i wrote it really quick (my friend said my Japanese was funny too ><)
after reading it, she basically said i was the fan at AX08 that showed up the most time at her autograph session (i got it 6 times lol ><) and she even said i was one of the most DONYOKU and impressive fan there
she said she met a lot of people with the same name so i'm surprised she remembered me from the autographs, she even said i had a very brilliant smiling face and glad that i sent fanmail
she goes on to say stuff like how the internet is useful because people are able to watch Magic Time Matsuri outside Japan
she's also happy to hear that there are fans outside of Japan who are planning to go to her upcoming concert tour and is definitely looking forward to seeing some again
she yelled my name out a lot of times too which was really cute and awesome lol
it's true what they say about Shokotan and her connection to her fans ><

it looks like Shokotan is doing a cover of the song Sokabasu (first OP song from Rurouni Kenshin) in a tribute album for Judy and Mary that's going to be released in March. can't wait to hear it ><

starry01482 · « **Reply #1374 on:** February 16, 2009, 11:45:20 PM »

I heard a version of that song on youtube, sounds like an average rock song to me.

Shoko seems to have been on many magazine covers over the last three years or so....

Masa · « **Reply #1375 on:** February 22, 2009, 11:23:51 PM »

Shonen Magazine No.11 (2009/02/25)

Masa · « **Reply #1376 on:** March 04, 2009, 11:10:10 AM »

shadowstar · « **Reply #1377 on:** March 04, 2009, 11:31:52 AM »

Cosplay!Shoko is the best

starry01482 · « **Reply #1378 on:** March 14, 2009, 11:32:20 PM »

starry01482 · « **Reply #1379 on:** March 15, 2009, 12:09:36 AM »

New single to be released
Apr 29, 2009

Will be theme for 天元突破グレンラガン [螺巌篇], anime film of Gurren Lagann.

Tracks
1. Namida no Tane, Egao no Hana
2. Gozen Roku-ji
3. Milky kiss
4. Namida no Tane, Egao no Hana -Instrumental-

First press bonuses.
Film sticker with CD and DVD.
With Gurren Lagann edition [which doesn't include Milky Kiss] her Yoko + Nia tag cosplay mini photobook.