Oricon released their weekly charts last week and the first week sales for Nogizaka46's debut single [Guruguru Curtain] is 136,309.
As expected, they lost to Johnny's group Hey!Say!JUMP. But nevertheless 2nd place with 136k is still good for their debut single. Congratulations girls!
I guess I was expecting too much from them. After all NMB48's debut single [Zetsumetsu Kurogami Shoujo] sold 131k on Day 1 and 218k on just Week 1.
Before my review, I just want to point out that I have seen a large number of people intentionally hating Nogizaka46 just because they are rivals. Personally I don't really see them so much as a rival group, but instead like the AKBIdoling!!! collaboration on 2009.
Guruguru Curtain (ぐるぐるカーテン)
When I first heard it I thought it was quite catchy and stuck on my head, but after some time I quickly got bored of it. That drum rhythm gets irritating quickly. Overall it's an okay song, cute and has a very simple choreography, kinda like AKB48's debut single Sakura no Hanabiratachi.
The PV especially feels really plain and low budget. It's like all the budget for the single went to Aitakatta Kamoshirenai and the 33 special videos in the single. I like the monochrome classroom scenes in the PV though.
Hidari mune no Yuuki (左胸の勇気)
it sounds just like your standard AKB undergirls song. If I hadn't known before I listened to it I would have even mistaken it for one. I like it better than most of the other undergirls songs actually.
Oh yeah how come this song doesn't have a PV like the other 3 tracks in Guruguru Curtain?
Nogizaka no Uta (乃木坂の詩)
Nogizaka46's theme song, and it's about not giving up and moving forward. At one point of the song the girls sing in the in accompaniment "Don't look back! Go my way! Don't give up! Good luck now!"
The lyrics are nice, but I really dislike repetitive lyrics and totally can't stand the "WOW WOW WOW WOW" in the song. The cheorography is weird too.
Just like in Guruguru Curtain, the PV for Nogizaka no Uta is plain and featureless. Have they completely run out of budget? Well it's one way of bringing attention to the 33 Nogizaka46 members, who are dressed in contrasting purple tracksuits.
The girls seem to be at some sort of training camp where they are shown doing various exercises. Then there are some crying scenes for people with that kind of fetish, and a strip scene because otherwise there isn't much else to watch in the PV.
Aitakatta Kamoshirenai (会いたかったかもしれない)
Perhaps the most anticipared song of this single, and it's not even an original song lol. Aitakatta Kamoshirenai is Nogizaka46's cover of AKB48's famous Aitakatta, but a much more darker version. And frankly I prefer this darker version. The whole "I can do it better than you" has worked for me.
There's actually 2 versions to the PV, the normal version and the "original cut". But there's not really much difference between the two and you really have to know where to look to see it. A complete waste of DVD space, they could have instead created a PV for Hidari mune no Yuuki. I guess they ran out of budget.
Will Nogizaka46 release a dark version of an AKB song in every single? I hope so because I really enjoyed Aitakatta Kamoshirenai
Ushinaitakunai kara (失いたくないから)
A ballad song, of course it wouldn't be an Akimoto Yasushi produced single without a ballad included. It's a nice ballad too actually, better than most of the recent ballads released by the 48s'. Good to listen to after a hard day's work.
On to the PV now. At last there is something in the background this time, which helps accentuates the girls, who are dressed in beautiful white tutus. In between the studio scenes, there are clips showing the early days of Nogizaka46. Vocal tranining, dance training, image training, rehearsals for Guruguru Curtain, and a bonus clip at the end showing poor Ikoma-chan doing something no idol should ever be shown doing ^^;;.
IMO Ushinaitakunai kara has the best PV in the entire single. This would definitely have been a better "Nogizaka46 theme song" than Nogizaka no Uta.
OVERALL
Overall I think the single is quite average, but definitely not living up to the hype that it created when Nogizaka46 was announced. When you hear that they are an "official rivals" you kinda expect them to be on the same level as AKB currently. I guess they wanted to start off safely, but I really feel that they could have done much more. Hopefully the 2nd Single will be much better.
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