Berryz Koubou's 19th single "Dakishimete Dakishimete"

The PV for "Dakishimete Dakishimete" has been released on Dohhh UP! This single will be released on March 11 and the single V will be released on March 18.



Link to video on Dohhh UP!

Wow.

Just, wow.

I'm pretty much lost for words, but I can say that this is the Berryz Koubou single I have been waiting for.

I'll divide this review up into sections, otherwise it will be incoherent.

The song

I can already tell this is going to be a frequent visitor on my workout playlist. Totally energetic with a driving beat (yet there's still some percussive variation). I normally find the faux strings that H!P arrangers seem to be so fond of infuriating, but when the whole track is synthed out it sounds awesome. Those runs work especially well during the dance break.

The background vocals are fabulous. I love the "woo!"s throughout and the "dakishimete"s near the end. The repetition of the last word in the verse sounds great too.

The lyrics sound like your average angsty H!P love song. I'm nowhere near fluent enough to translate, but I can hear stuff about "sweet every day," "kiss me hotly," "youth," "gentle tears," "sweet future," "hot wish," "sad love story," "don't make me be alone," and obviously "hold me, hold me."

The dance

The dance is an absolute marvel when Saki performs it, be she could probably make the Yes Dance look hot. It reminds me a little of the "C\C (Cinderella\Complex)" dance, which I loved. It's got some sort of "sexy" moves that some of the girls can pull off and some of the girls can make look reeeeal awkward, but overall I'm satisfied.

The girls

Woooo, let's take it one by one. The ladies are styled like the mature young women they are, and it suits them well.

Maasa

Grrrrl, you lookin' fierce! Look at that hair and those lips! Her first close-up 25 seconds into the video made me know I was in for a great PV.

I can't say that I care for the outfit she's got going on though. Those leggings do not look so nice on her muscular-for-a-Japanese-girl legs. It would probably be fine if they didn't stop at her knees though.

Miyabi

I'm loving Miya's new hair! It looked better in the co・no・mi・chi PV, but this is good, too. Miyabi's collar was the most dog-collar-like I think. The turquoise hoodie really made her pop and there was something very sexy about the printed tights. Overall love for her look, and she sounded great as usual.

Momoko

Oh Momo, you always look silly when you're trying to be serious so I guess it's just as well that you grinned in your close-ups. That collar is all kinds of bitchin' hard core though, and the pink dress looks great. It was nice to see her without pigtails or that weird Buono! style that makes her head look lopsided.

Yurina

Yurina had a lot of stripiness going on in her outfit, but it somehow works. The knee-length leggings also look good on her because girls built like a bean pole can actually chop their bodies up without looking funny. I'm glad she's finally gotten something that looks good on her as she seemed to have been suffering from what I would call the Coconuts Musume affect: the H!P stylists have no idea how to dress a body that isn't 150 cm and/or curveless.

Risako

Risako looks okay, but not great, which is a bit of surprise. It seems like lately she's either looking absolutely smoking or dreadfully frumpy. She's another girl that sometimes suffers due to the fact that she has non-standard figure (curvy in this case). I don't like the red tiger-print hoodie and the outfit reminds me a lot of the "Naichou Kamo" dance shot get ups. The feathers are pretty cute though.

Chinami

Chinami has always been adorable, but ever since she started growing her out about a year ago she's really bloomed into a beautiful young woman. The cream-colored jacket and high-top sneakers were really a great choice for her. In general a great styling job!

Saki♥!

Hands down the best looking girl in this video. The styling is just crazy fabulous. First off, raise your hand if you noticed she has on one white shoe and one black shoe. Sweet, right? And she's wearing a single fingerless glove (soooooo cool!) The horizontal stripes on her top really emphasize the fact that she doesn't actually look like a little girl anymore, regardless of how much this fact seems to get covered up. She definitely looks better than any of the others in her tights and skirt (hers is a serious micro-mini, too!). I'll admit though, I hate the hair. It's way too rigid on her right side and the asymmetric extensions just look silly. Also, I would have preferred a non-leopard-print hat. But none of the bad parts are actually apparent when she is breaking it down during the dance shots.

The visuals

These doppelgänger shots were a great idea! I'm especially fond of Saki's, Yurina's, and Chinami's.


The DJ shots were pretty cute. Saki was the only one who managed to actually look convincing though.


Props to Momo though for her scratch that synced with the music.


From what little I know about laser displays I believe these cool 3D lasers weren't CG added in after the fact but were actually there while the girls were dancing. It's a pretty nifty effect.


These little runway poses are sort of a more awesome version of the Pepper Keibu (Another Ver.) PV. I'm glad they didn't overdo them in this PV.

Miscellanea

Didn't we get enough unnecessary Risako center in "Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance?" On the other hand this is a pretty good shot of the girls' outifts.


Why didn't all the girls get these sort of "sensual" close ups? Surely the other six couldn't have done it any more awkwardly than Yurina did.



I liked the slo-mo chest pops and hip circles. There was actually quite a bit of interesting camera work focusing on the girls' bodies while they were dancing that didn't seem too fan service-y.



Risako's mouth seemed obscenely wide at several points o__O.


Oh cute, it says "LOVE..."


Or apparently it says "LOVER!"


I have no comment. O___O

So, in short, I love this PV.