DVD reviews (V6 and Janne da Arc)
Last week I ordered Janne da Arc DVD from CDJapan and V6's all 3 DVDs from
YesAsia. The shipping fees are indeed expensive but shopping online can be
addicting, really! JDA arrived at Thursday and V6 at Friday.
Janne da Arc: 100th Memorial Live ~LIVE INFINITY 2002 at BUDOKAN~
Personally I love this DVD. It has everything I expect from an expensive
DVD. Well, I'm indeed intentionally half-criticizing Johnny's Jimusho for
too much exploiting the fans by releasing expensive stuffs with very little
content that worth-buying. While the other concert are only durated in 1,5-2
hours, 100th Memorial Live (counting from their indies year) is durated in `total 171 minutes. The bonus features in this
CDs including Shining Ray PV, Off-stage/rehearsal scene, member's
commentary, and multi-angle tracks. The concert itself might not be the best
stage ever becasuse V6 or Laruku has broader stage and greater mass. The
stage was very simple and the member has simple appearances. Although the
stage is simple, the performance itself is one of the best I've ever seen.
While V6 emphasized their lives on acrobatics and dances, JDA's main power
was on Yasu's clear and strong vocal. He jumped and sometimes running
towards the audience, but still in good stamina throughout the whole
concerts, singing high-pitched songs in an accurate performance! I often
refer this to my friends as a "CD-quality concert". He was able to soaring
up the melody lightly and
totally effortless and hit the note 95%
accurate. I haven't watched the whole concert but these are some
reviews:
1. Feel the wind
Ever since I heard Feel the wind (100th Memorial version) MP3, I fall in
love with this song and more over with Yasu's voice and pushed me to buy
this concert. I love Yasu's performance here. He's singing the refrain, the
highest part of the whole song, while running and approaching the audiences.
Really awesome.
2. Member's Solo Part
In this long track, each members except for Yasu were continuosly performed
their solo plays. You's classic guitar solo was beautifully opened the
track, then overlapped with Kiyo's piano at the end of his solo, which also
marked the starting of Kiyo's solo. Kiyo's play assured me that chubby
fingers are not obstacles for someone to play piano beautifully. Shuji's
drumming entered at Kiyo's last piece and made it alive. Shuji's solo is, in
my opinion, the longest play in this track. He played like crazy and I'm
amazed with his stamina. Kayu's bass play then overlapped his play and both
of them were playing together until the end (that's why I said Shuji has the
longest play). Kayu has the best approach to audience. He asked them to
scream out "Kayu saikou!" at the end of a part of his song. Kayu is the only
JDA member that amazed me with his personality. Despite of all the tatoos
and piercing, he has a wonderful smile and when he's smiling, he's not scary
at all. :)
3. GAIA
Member's solo part was continued with Gaia. I always love GAIA. The intro was more lively than in CD. While the intro was playing, Yasu entered the stage and opened GAIA with his very lower pitch and You as the backing vocal. The refrain might not 100% accurate but to pull your voice from lower tone to the very high one smoothly is not an ability most singer can do live. Great job, Yasu!
4. Shining Ray PV
The fourth JDA's PV I've ever watched and this one is hillarious, although this one doesn't have a story like Kasumiyuku Sorase ni Shite. There is no scenery at all, only the 5 members who is
changing their position:
Yasu (vocal) : guitar
Kayu (bass) : drum
You (guitar) : keyboard
Kiyo (keyboard) : bass
Shuji (drum) : vocal
The result is a mess *laugh*. While You is always playing his guitar very very cool, Yasu's guitaring is simply directing nowhere. He's swinging the guitar up and down, to and off the camera like trying to steal the attention from the vocal (Shuji). Shuji, the big, chubby drummer, unlike Yasu's hyper style who loves to swing the mic, is singing more like an old man in karaoke *sweatdrop*.. calm and holding his mic steadily, but near the end of the song he's bouncing around with Yasu... and fell down.. *massive sweatdrop*. Meanwhile, Kiyo, who is always calm, playing with bass calmly, but the more the song reaches the end, the mess is his play. He ticks the strings like ticking the keyboard. You, who is also calm, remains calm and cool while playing his keyboard BUT NOT in the right manner. He stands up, pressing the notes and posing silly. Kayu plays the drum calmly at the beginning, but near the end of the song, he's standing and hitting the drum nowhere. In short, this PV is a mess... ^^;; Creative idea.
V6: Ballad Clips, Dance Clips, and Very Best Live DVDs
Somehow V6's fans are not too anthusiasted in ordering these DVDs. As I stated above, Johnny's management is too greedy to release the 10 PVs in 2 DVDs, each contains 5 PVs and 3 makings. I'm not too anthusiastic with the Dance clips because I already have Hard Luck Hero DVD containing Tsuyokunare and Darling and Thunderbird DVD-quality PV and too often watching Cosmic Rescue and Feel Your Breeze PV on MTV. I'm fonder with Ballad since I only have Arigatou no Uta in good quality. I love Koi no Signal and more over Mejirushi no Kioku because the PV I have is low-quality and dark. In DVD, even the height differences between the members are seen perfectly.. ^^;; Chigireta Tsubasa is enchanting as always and in DVD I can clearly see that the background scene is a church altar. I'm not interested at all with the live since I've seen all their concerts. The addition Thunderbird and Arigatou no Uta concert clip also are not that good, especially Thunderbird, because the costume was totally awful. They were wearing long-sleeves costumes which color is half-PINK with FLOWERS pattern and half white, plus a fluffy feathers on the left shoulder. BAH! I want to punch the designer.. ~_~
In short, if anyone asked me whether these V6 DVDs are worth buying or not, I'd rather say if you're a true V6 fans, go buy the clips. Only buy the Very Best Live if you're a true V6 manic or have excess money to spend. If you're only an ordinary fan, wait for the overseas VCD version. If anyone asked me whether Janne Da Arc's 100th Memorial Live is worth buying or not, I'd say YES! This is an awesome concert. I even got bored with Laruku's concert because Hyde's voice is somehow way distorted from the CD version. I'm now thinking whether buying Danjiri Night or waiting the next concert DVD, because even though Danjiri Night has songs from Another Story album, it doesn't have Rainy ~Ai no Shirabe~, one of my most favorite song from JDA.
@ 09:05 a.m.
Farewell, Pope
I don't feel like integrating this entry to another else, but farewell,
Pope. You are really an amazing person. You've been praying for this
corrupted world non-stoppedly. Now, you can rest in peace beside God where
you'll know no pain and no war again. You will always be a role model for
all people.
@ 09:02 a.m.
