ANGERME - Nana Korobi Ya Oki / Gashin Shoutan / Mahou Tsukai Sally Review

     ANGERME recently released a triple A-side single consisting of Nana Korobi Ya Oki, Gashin Shoutan and Mahou Tsukai Sally. There are three words I can use to describe this release in a nutshell: exciting, fun and silly. Nana Korobi Ya Oki is exciting, Gashin Shoutan is fun and Mahou Tsukai Sally is silly. ANGERME had a reboot of a sort with the release of their previous single, re-branding themselves from S/mileage to ANGERME. This reboot was more than a name change and member addition, but also a clear shift in style, focus and presentation, as can be seen with their first single release as ANGERME and now this.

    First up is Nana Korobi Ya Oki. From the moment the singing begins in this song you hear a very strong presence and form. Especially of note is how powerful Meimi sounds for her lines. This song is an example of how I tend to describe a lot of Hello! Project music. The beat is more for establishing the rhythm while the lyrics are the real sound of the music. You hear many songs in Pop where the instruments (whether it be synthetic or organic) tend to carry the song rather than the singing, but this song is carried by the lyrics. As a result, it really helps show off all of the girls’ strengths (and likewise, their weaknesses). They really have a unique synergy that helps them all feel like a very cohesive unit (something that isn’t always the case in other H!P groups, past and present). The reason I call this song exciting isn’t just because of the strong vocal presence, though. It’s also because of the fact that the song often times makes me feel anxious, in a good way. There are parts of it where as I’m hearing the song I start to get anxious and excited for how the next line will carry or how the beat may shift in order to force the singing to shift as well. It’s quite a fun adventure of aural pleasures and while it’s not my favorite song on the release, I certainly feel like it’s the best in regards to technicality.

    Next up is Gashin Shoutan. While Nana Korobi Ya Oki has more of an emphasis on the vocals, I feel like this song has a bit more of a balance between the music and the vocals. There is more vocal talent that is shown off in this song, but they use the music to really help complement each other. It works out quite nicely. I call this one fun because it harkens back to the older style of very fun, jumpy and carefree songs that you can hear from older H!P music. To top it off it feels like it incorporates a Juice=Juice style of ‘cool’ music into what is starting to become a new ANGERME style. It’s a quite interesting mesh of various styles and features that ends up turning into the kind of song that immediately grabs your attention and makes you want to get up and dance.

    Last, and most definitely not least, is Mahou Tsukai Sally. This one is actually my favorite of the trio, because I just find it so darn charming. It’s definitely not the most complex or the best example of advanced skills in the trio. It makes up for this by being extremely silly. The chorus consists of an ‘incantation’ and the lyrics are extremely repetitive and really only talk about Sally and her being a witch. Not the most deep or most inspiring, as you can tell. That being said, the song is exceedingly catchy and addictive. As a result of the simplicity, it is also very easy to follow along to. I won’t commend them on amazing talent or amazing musical composition (though the music is very silly and fun as well), but I will commend them on being able to do a song that is easy to pick up and very addictive. It’s the kind of song you’ll likely hear me singing extremely loud as I drive down the freeway not caring about all the weird looks I’m getting. While not directly related to song in regard to the music, I want to point out that the cute witch costumes they have for this particular song are the most adorable things ever!

     If ANGERME continues with this kind of exceptional quality, then they are bound for a very big future. I’ve been thoroughly impressed by them since they rebooted, in music, performance and personality. Let’s hope that with the 4th generation auditions they bring in more talent to better expand on their positive qualities and to hopefully fill in for the gaping hole that will be in place when Kanon Fukuda graduates later this year.

     Nana Korobi Ya Oki / Gashin Shoutan / Mahou Tsukai Sally released on July 22, 2015. You can get the single from cdjapan.co.jp or whatever Japanese music retail you prefer to purchase from. This one isn’t on iTunes, unfortunately.

ANGERME is:

-          Ayaka Wada (1st Generation)
-          Kanon Fukuda (1st Generation)
-          Kana Nakanishi (2nd Generation)
-          Akari Takeuchi (2nd Generation)
-          Rina Katsuta (2nd Generation)
-          Meimi Tamura (2nd Generation)
-          Mizuki Murota (3rd Generation)
-          Aikawa Maho (3rd Generation)
-          Rikako Sasaki (3rd Generation)

You can view the music videos for all of the songs below: