[DVD] Himawari 1st stage Boku no taiyou 2008/04/23

Wow... I just watched both performances... it's amazing. It's now my favorite Stage. I like it even more than A4, and that is something to be proud of.

I'll do one of my big 'reviews' for it later (it'll be better than the B1 one I attempted earlier, since this time there'll be less comparing to K2).

Nacchi's part in the Stage DVD cracks me up. She has only one solo line in the entire thing that I know of, yet she sports at least four different hairstyles! (straight, curly, little ponytail, and long ponytail) that alternate throughout the hour-long DVD.

I was impressed by everyone. Including the staff.

(By the way, who's color-coding? I'm going to attempt it, but I think it's downright near impossible.)

EDIT: Natsuki has five hairstyles. I forgot to add that she wears pigtails.

 

^ Wow, five? I only noticed two. XD

 

I only noticed one. XD (Then again, I wasn't really paying much attention to Natsuki anyway, hehe.)

 

I nocite Nacchi's change hair in itoshisa no defense... I love her long and curly hair, she looks sexy like that

 

Well... I was pretty much watching Nacchi... the entire time. I'll make sure and post times of when she has her different ones after I watch the DVD again.

(I have no idea how to watch a Region 2 DVD on my laptop, let alone take screen caps...)

 

Youkokurama, I blame you for getting me addicted to Juliet :x

I love the way Haruna sings her lines And I also love the costumes, they look like really cool space pimps with matching space pimp hat B-)

 

Yay. Space-pimp my Idol
And yes, Haruna in Boku to juliet... is irresistible (and irreplaceable)

 

now I really fell to Hana.
I can't took my eyes off of her in Itoshisa >.<

and Oku still as cute as ever XD
she already grow up so much!

 

There are couple ways to watch region 2 dvd on laptop. If you use the control panel>device manage>dvd player, and change the region on within the system. But you only get something like 5 times of the life of your computer to change. You can find some dvd player software that can let you watch regardless of the region code on the dvd or the dvd player that's installed on your computer. To name a few, DVD X Player, Dvd Region+CSS Free, DVD Ghost and so. Most of them are shareware. What the software does is to make the computer skip the whole detecting region part, so it will play on your computer.

If you are like me that watch lots of DVD from outside of the US. Just invest some money to get a decent region free dvd player. Most of them are so over priced on the interenet is the only problem. But I bought a philips dvd player dvp5982, which is a very good player with upscaling ability for like $ 65 at BestBuy, and found the hack to go in the system to make it region free. If any of you are interested, let me know, I can get the hack to you. It's very easy, just punch the remote control.

For getting images off movie or clip, I usually use the build-in function from my VLC player and KMPlayer. That's how I make my GIF (WinDVD 9 can do the same). Both are very good to use for viewing any video files download online, as well as DVD. You do not need to download any more codec to watch video download. Or you don't like this, go and get ScreenHunter. It's a free software that let you take image off anything on your computer screen. Hopefully this will help. By the way, this is kind off the topic. I apologize if this is not the appropriate place to post response.

 

hmm i say my favorite scene is with Kasai Tomomi in Lay Down because of this!





xD cant figure out who the other one is...i think its Minegishi Minami

 

^ the other girl is Miichan

 

With the random money my grandmother gives me and my left over birthday money, I hope I can buy my own version of Himawari soon. I'll probably open it and watch it but buy a special frame for it and hang it in my room.

 

Thanks, larcencielark. I think I figured out how to do captures now! Luckily, I already have a nice little region-free DVD player, so it's just a problem on putting it on my computer, but you helped me solve that. Thanks.

Eventually, I'll do a mini-review/thoughts of Himawari...

 

Thanks xl3lueazndragonx
I must still wait one or two weeks to see the DVD. Too hard
But with this I can hold until there

 

So... My 'review'... (somehow it got long...)

In general, this is the best Stage I've seen yet. I hope they only get better. I also find it interesting that my two favorites (Natsuki and Rina) get the least lines on the Team 1 portion (as do Hitomi and Yukari).

-Dreamin' Girls
Definitely AKB48's best opener ever... and I love all of the opening songs. It's probably AKB48's most artistic song, too. It's just all around good.

-Run Run Run
I guess I'm just weird, but I think that this is single material. It is just so fun. It's kind of like Bingo, I'd say. The choreography is adorable, and you can easily tell that this is a Stage song, due to the quartet lines. My favorite part is the section right before the dance break with the bass beat.

-Mirai no Kajitsu
Not the strongest song, but still cute. It's so positive and the lyrics are great. I love AKB48 for using so many girls' voices in their unit songs so they can interact a bit more with each other.

-Viva! Hurricane
Great. I love it. This is the craziest song ever. I love how they have the girls that are singing walk from one part of the stage to the other. For some reason, that strikes me as awesome. I also like who they used for the few solo lines in this song. They were the best choices ever.

-Idol Nante Yobanaide
Somehow, I was most excited for this song. I love this kind of sugar-pop that has no artistic integrity whatsoever. It just makes me smile. The use of cheerleaders was just ingenious. Acchan looked cute, but I was a bit disappointed that she didn't smile nearly as much as she needed too. Kasai looked great, too. I love how high her voice is, even in a unit like this. I've decided that I love Erena. Her voice sounds kind of frog-like... and I think that is good. Miichan is such an idol. She's great in sexy units as well as cutesy ones. That's power. Team 2 did pretty well. Rina has an amazing stage prescense. Kana is cute in general. Manami smiles! Hayano plays the idol card really well. It lived up to my hopes and dreams.

-Boku to Juliet to Jet Coaster
Amazing. I don't know how you could make a song cooler than this one. The opening is splendid. The lyrics are wonderful, too. Haruna does a great job showing off her vocal prowess in her phrase. So does Yuko. Rina gets less lines in this one, and it's not really the type of song she excels at, but she still maintains her position in my ranking (just below a certain super-awesome girl). Team 2 rocks as well. Amina's odd usage of her vocal chords is neat. Yukari's voice impressed me. Nozomi just owned it. Personally, I feel that the best Team would be Nozomi, Rina, and Amina.

-Higurashi no Koi
Wow. Power. This song is one of the best duets from AKB48 ever. Takamina finally gets to show off her voice in all of its glory. Yuka gets to, too... except... it's just crazy powerful... listen to right before the first chorus... I mean woah. Aki and Ohe do great, too. I feel sad that Aki left. Ohe's more pretty voice sounds really interesting in this, too, as she sings it much differently than Minami does. The choreography is so simple, yet so perfect for the song. Yay.

-Itoshisa no Defense
I love it. The choreography is perfect for a song like this. Without even watching it yet, I could probably do some of the choreography... it feels that natural. The costumes are great, even. It is ten times sexier than Faint, and ten times better, too. I may be biased... as I usually am, but I think Nacchi did the best in conveying the mood of the song. She was the perfect balance. Tomo-chin of course did well, but she was just a bit too innocent (not counting her dancing... I'm just talking about the attitudes) for the song, I think. Sae was on the other side and a bit too sexy with all of her gestures. I think the song, "Affection's Defense" is supposed to be innocently sexy... and I think Natsuki pulled that off the best. Team 2 was fun to watch, too. Hana wins, Kayano is just way too cute for this song (but is still great), and you can tell that Hitomi loves this type of song. The perfect unit would be Hana, Sae, and Natsuki. Easily one of the best AKB48 unit songs.

-Himawari
I love this song. It's such a great feel-good song. Sayaka's voice seems much more relaxed, and I'd say she sounds even better that way. Mai is great... and I love how she uses her hands when she uses a microphone; it's her trademark. Mariko really conveys how happy the song is. This song is a perfect way for Kayo to really show off her amazing voice. The best thing about this song is how equal the lines are... and that all four girls have great voices. Team 2 does well, too. I'm happy that we get to hear some of these girls' voices more/for the first time. Risa, Asuka, Ohori, and Natsumi do a great job.

-Takeuchi Senpai
Pure awesomeness. I love it too much for some reason. It's completely my style, what with the super-blast of happy. I'm glad it lets everybody (right?) get a solo line. That's a much needed change of pace. The chorus is way cute, too! It also features Natsuki's only solo line in the stage... which is pretty awesome by the way.

-Sonna Konna Wake de
I hated this song when the fan recordings came out. I thought it was bad when I saw the video preview. I fell in love with it when I saw the DVD. It starts out with one of the best beginnings to a song ever... I'm a big fan of costume changes. Then it has tons of great duet lines that really get to showcase everyone's voices. It just screams sexy and doesn't try to mask it. The costumes are lovely, too.

-Deja Vu
Another addicting song. This isn't my favorite on my stage, but it still rocks. The girls seem like good actresses in their duet lines. I love how simple it feels, yet it gets its point across. the hand usage astounds me.

-Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka?
I never really loved this song, but performances of it win me over everytime. It's another great feel-good song, except with more girls this time. I love the mismatching costumes, too. It makes the song more person, somehow.

-Lay Down
Another song that I used to hate... It's still not a favorite of mine, but the performance of it is great. All of the girls pretend that they're bad, and that's a sight. The girls who get lots of lines (Sayaka, Nonti, and Yuka) are perfect for it. I love the pairings, too. Especially my two favorites having... fun... together.

-Bingo!
Even though they've done this song countless times before, I still love it. It's the perfect happy summer love song. The girls they used for the lines match them perfectly. Rina and Mai (and Itano) as well as Natsuki, Sae, and Sayaka in particular. Just all around cute. The only way it could be better is if they were wearing something more similar to their PV costumes!

-Boku no Taiyou
This is possibly my least favorite song in the Stage... I don't know why, but it's just anti-climactic... even though the Stage is named after it. I think the only part I really love about it is the little drumroll near the end. I guess another positive thing about it is how happy the girls seem throughout it.

 

^Awesome review! I agree with you, for the most part, Acchan could've stolen IDOL nante yobanaide, and yet she sort of faded in the background, which made me sad
I also think that Itoshisa with Natsuki, Sae and Hana would be EPIC win. And I agree, Nacchi was the best for that performance in Team 1.

I hated Boku no Taiyou placed there as well... If it had been the second song or something, it probably wouldn't have been all that annoying XD