Hiragana Keyakizaka46 1st Album [Hashiridasu Shunkan]「走り出す瞬間」 [18/06/20]

Two more Tokyo performances added to the tour! Sales must be going well. Performances at Makuhari on July 9-10. Fan club members already able to buy now. Now a total of ten performances in the tour: Yokohama 3 (Pacifico June 4-5-6), Tokyo 1 (Kokusai Forum June 13), Nagoya 2 (Century Hall June 27-28), Osaka 2 (Festival Hall June 27-28), Chiba 2 (Makuhari July 9-10). With the middle-sized halls, total attendance if sold out would be around 40,000.

Promo vid on album site:



Mao-chan, Memi, Kumi; Mii-pan, Toshi-chan. Excitement among Memi fans over her "deko-dashi" (showing the forehead) hairstyle.

 

Lol sold out

 

if the video does not show watch the video here

New song, ripped from yurakucho hoshizora radio.

 

I love it. Very solid lead song.
For sure one of my favourite hiragana songs, maybe even my favourite.
Now I really want to see the MV

 

Totally different sound with 20 people, much more solid and smooth. I can't identify voices, but there are some good ones there. But I'm still learning to like it, to be honest. I haven't felt a hook yet.

Here's the video announcement of the added tour dates:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

new banner




cover for Hiragana 1st album

Type A


Type B


regular


https://natalie.mu/music/news/283901

https://www.m-on-music.jp/0000273781/

fanart


source

 

Their voices sound so elegant as a 20-member group! I love it so much!

 

Reading the title for this album, give me goosebumps! Finally, after 2 years of hard work, they can really start to move, to run towards their dream!

 

I agree with most comments I saw around, a very solid song compared to the previous ones (I doubt it will get higher than Soredemo in my personal rank, but I already like it), It has a very Sakamichi feeling... or is it just me?
This is gonna be a great album

 

A Japanese comment called the cover images "refreshing," and that's exactly the feeling I get -- from the colour palette, the white, the spacing of the members, their expressions, etc. The main photo is a bit serious, but still gives the same impression. Those white uniforms are great. I like the fringes, which remind me of the fringes on the outfit Neru wore in the early "fashion check" ep of Keyakake. I look forward to seeing what they can do with them in performance.

I think that main photo was taken on Keyakizaka-dori (street) at the Roppongi Hills centre, maybe looking up the street from in front of the lower end of the Asahi TV building. The map display seems to prove it's at Roppongi Hills somewhere, anyway. In fact, I now see that the natalie and m-on links posted by @CutePanda confirm that it's Keyakizaka ("Keyaki-slope") in Roppongi. Just as a point of interest, the name of the street in Tokyo is written with "keyaki" in hiragana, not kanji.

I like @Vivienne's use of the word "elegant" to describe the sound of the group. Very promising.

@MasToppu -- You're bringing tears to my eyes. After two long years...they are starting to run up that hill we saw Hirate on in the very first Overture video. Can a single be far behind? Depends on the success of the album and the tour, I suppose.

 

quick translation of the lyric

Spoiler

"In the middle of the city street i stumbled,
when i look back there was nothing.
Even though it was just a slight misstep,
I still made an excuse

Why am i always the one
Unable to do anything correctly?
As i hunched back
I wander
and look for answer

It's not the blue sky's fault,
It's just because i never looked up,
Not expecting anything,
doesn't mean throwing my dream,
It's just that despite what happen,
i'm still waiting for something to happen

If i keep looking down and watch my step,
i certainly won't stumble.
Is a life without seeing the scenery
a happy one?

"Live with care"
Are what the adults say.
But does that mean
I can't go with those who want to?

The rainy sky is not so bad,
It's just that the sky is covered by the umbrella.
I looked down or up depending on the weather of the day,
Such a restless youth.

I don't have anything good,
I wonder what i can do?
I don't understand myself
better than anyone else.

It's not the blue sky's fault,
It's just because i never looked up,
Not expecting anything,
doesn't mean throwing my dream,
It's just that despite what happen,
i'm still waiting for something to happen"

 

Oh those covers! So bright, joyful, lovely and with positive vibes!
LOVE it, guess I will only be able to buy the regular edition

 

who's the center?

 

type B should be the red one, and Regular type is the blue one

 

So 3 versions in total? I think I like Type A the most, really pretty

 

So the centre is Sasaki Mirei.. I thought it would be either Saito Kyoko or Kosaka Nao

 

The lead song is superb! I love it.
The group vocal is also good.

I also love the covers: the color scheme and members' pose. Then, hiragana's promo picture is so iconic, they do it under zelkova tree. This should be ALL Keyaki 1st album cover though (like Nogi in Nogizaka Station for their 1st album).

For album cover
Kanji - Hiragana
0 - 1

Go Happy Aura!

 

to me Mirei has always been a "center" of sort, or at least a prominent member, and her voice is definitely the most recognizable (and loud) one. More than Kyoko even. This said, I wouldn't mind if Hiragana went on with a "no-center-policy" lol at this point it would make them unique and specular to kanji.
As for Nao, I get the hype about her, but I wouldn't be pleased if she also got a major role in the album then, say, 1st gen. Not yet, at least.

Curious about the other songs. I'm hoping for high quality at this point.
The cover are good for Hiragana, though a bit too similar to Nogi for my taste, easy guess which one I'll buy lol

 

No mention of how many new songs this album will have yet, right? I'm really excited to see what kind of units they bring out. I really want to see what they can do in smaller groups with more of the focus on them individually.

 

I agree. I actually think that's one of the purposes of the album: to get a feeling for how individual members and groups of members can perform and how the public reacts to them. From Memi's blog and Message, I get the feeling she is going to do a cute song, as she keeps saying she wants to, maybe with Mii-Pan, since they seem to be spending a lot of time together. Nao will definitely centre something, maybe a couple of things.

There are two entire CDs we haven't seen the contents of yet. They will probably put all or most of Hiragana's previous songs on them (although they are all in the live performances on the disks), but that still leaves room for plenty of new songs (??). And there are two 70-minute BDs that are supposed to contain at least one "new song MV" each. Really looking forward to these riches. Like the TV riches we are getting every week now. Gana-fan heaven in the summer of 2018.

Listening to the song more, I'm still lukewarm about the song itself, but the sound of the group is amazing. For me, neither Kanji nor Nogi sounds better. Or maybe even as good, amazingly. I have to give credit to Sony, who selected 2gens who would (a) be this talented and (b) be able to blend with the 1gens to make a sound this rich and smooth.

There are threads of comments in Japan asking why Mii-Pan is centre, since she is not that beautiful or that starry. Two main answers: good singing, and giving such a positive, happy feeling. I'd add that she is someone whom everyone likes, and no member of the group will be upset if she is at centre. Ayaka has a previous blog post singing her praises as a happy presence. If she ends up giving off the right aura, I do expect Nao at centre eventually, but putting a 2gen there now would annoy/depress the 1gens no end. I admire Kyonko, but I don't think she's the right image for the whole group (older, low voice, dry humour). I'm hoping Memi will sing well enough to do it, but her cute/teasing/stylized/slow manner may also not work with the whole group (though it does with me, lol). Nao/Memi are less like leaders than like presences the other members could revolve around. And among the 2gens there are many good candidates for the future: Nao, Miho, Hina, Hiyori, Konoka, Miku...need I go on?

I too like the idea of a revolving centre for this group. Takahiro did say a month or two ago that this is a group where anyone can be centre. Maybe he meant it.

There's lots of comment from Japan that this song sounds like Nogi more than like Keyaki, although there's also lots saying it's in the "cool" rather than "cute" direction.