The End of a Very Pink Era! ♡ Sayumi's Graduation Single Review!

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Today on November 26th, 2014 — Michishige Sayumi graduated from Morning Musume after being a member for over eleven years. Wow.

This review is a really late as the single was actually released a little over a month ago. However, school often gets in the way. I've been spending a lot of my time studying (and procrastinating .. I'm human.) I had decided to postpone this review until Sayu's graduation. This is her last single and today she is graduating from the group. I will talk about a lot more stuff at the end of this entry so please stay tune! And now, on with the review!

So first, I'm going to start talking about “ TIKI BUN ” which is the first A-side of this triple A-side single. At a first glance, I was kinda iffy about it. First of all, tiki bun? How did Tsunku came up with that? However, when the promotional pictures came out, I was pretty excited. Everyone looked absolutely fabulous and gorgeous in their outfits. I love the red and black scarfs and the white blazer. Sayumi looked absolutely goregouse. I also think that Haruna really stood out for me. So yea, I was pretty excited about this!

 ... However, I ended up being slightly disappointed ... again? The song is the usual EDM/Electro/Bubblegum pop song that Morning Musume has always been doing in the past recent years. It's nothing really new. I wasn't hooked on it the first time I heard it. I had to listen to it a few times and it eventually grew onto me. I really do like the verses - the verses are more catchier in my opinion. I did not like the chorus whatsoever. I feel like the chorus .. kinda ruined it for me. Like it was building up, it was getting really really good, and then BAM! Awkward chorus comes in. /sigh;

To my surprise and delight, I found that Haruka has really stepped up her game when it came to vocals. I'm hearing a lot more Haruka in this song that usual. She got like 10% more solos than ever. Ermahgaaaaawd. I have a very good feeling that it's likely that Haruka's going to step up in Morning Musume and become a center member. Wait not center ... what I mean is that she's going to start getting a lot more spotlight on her. Yea, that's right.

Well, now let's start talking about that MV, shall we? I'm not too impressed with the MV whatsoever. It's a very generic Hello! Project ... I'll be frank; it actually looks very cheap. I wasn't impressed with the warehouse set, the close ups, none of them at all. I wasn't even impressed with the dance either. I was expected a formation dance - for them to form some kinda shape or do really cool memorable moves ... Well actually, the 'clean the table / DJ' move was pretty memorable ... but still! I was slightly in the choreography when it came to the chorus. It reminded me too much of Ten Made Nobore ... and I didn't like that song. /sorry; The only good thing that came out of it was their outfits ...

and Duu working the camera! YES. YES. YES.

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Anyways, moving on with the next song ... We have “ Shabadaba Doo~ ” - a solo song sung by Sayumi! Again, similar to the other song, I didn't technically have a good impression of this song. I was slightly worried about what was going on in Tsunku's mind ... Shabadaba Doo? Shabadadoo? Yabadabadoo? Really? The Flintstones? Really? ... /sigh; I was really nervous and quite iffy about this song. However, I actually ended up liking this song a lot when the MV came out for it.

The song is kinda no different than all of Sayumi's other recent solo songs. It's your average electropop song - however, with a nice dash of jazz~ It's an electropop-jazz fusion~ And it works in this song! It works really well together in this song! Oh my god! I was quite relieved to know that Sayumi wasn't completely autotuned in this song similar to Lalala no Pipipi and Aruiteru. I think that she really great with this song. She sounded absolutely adorable~ Plus this song really suits her vocals the best! It's a very catchy song ... I found myself humming to this song a lot actually.

Shabadaba Do Do Do~ Shabada Do Do Do Do Do Do Do~

I actually really like the lyrics to the song since it practically screams 'SAYU!~' I found the lyrics to be very amusing but at the same time, it's like it's telling us Sayu's story. I found the part where she was going to talk about her 'first love.' Ahahaha~ That was funny~ Also, Mizuki and Harunan was able to make a cameo in this MV which was really nice. They are practically Sayumi's right hand and left hand cute apprentices~ And now look at them ... Mizuki's leader and Harunan's still subleader~ 

The MV is fifty shades of pink! There's so much pink in this MV! Well, what do you expect? It's Sayu, after all. Pink is known to be her image color. I found this MV to be absolutely adorable with the bubbles (shabondama~), the flowers, and the umbrella. I found the two outfits used in this MV to be absolutely adorable (for her red polkadot outfit) and gorgeous (her light pink dress). Sayumi was absolutely gorgeous in this MV ... must I say more? Yes, yes I do. This is an absolutely fun, light-hearted MV~ All of this was made of Sayumi. End of discussion.

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And now onto “ Mikaeri Bijin ” - the most perfect send-off song for Sayumi. My first impression of “ Mikaeri Bijin ” was ... I don't know. It was kind of mysterious. I knew that it would only be sung by the other nine members. However ... I wasn't sure if it was going to be like another electropop song or a hardcore rock song ... It had this sense of mystery to it. Also, it turns out that this song was not written nor composed by Tsunku at all ... /yes/

This is actually an enka ballad song and this is the first time that Morning Musume has ever sung in this genre. However, they totally aced this! This is a very beautiful song and everyone sang so great~ The harmonies were really great~ Everyone stood out in their own unique way. Now, I kinda wish that Morning Musume would sing more enka-styled songs in the future. But I also want to point out again that this song was wrote by other people aside from Tsunku. I honestly would like to commend them - those people did a great job!

The MV was quite simple yet also really suits this song perfectly. Sayumi actually wrote letters to the members in the MV and they read them ... Haruka cried! Erina was tearing up, Harunan was tearing up ...  In all honestly, I kinda cried when I first watched the MV. It was really, really touching. Everything flowed so well together~ There wasn't really any awkward moments in the MV, much to my relief! This is the best send off song for Sayumi, in my opinion.

The dance was very simple and complimented the song nicely. But also, the outfits were absolutely gorgeous and every girl rocked it. I really love how Sayumi was given the role of “ Mikaeri Bijin ” (the looking back beauty). Fun fact; did you know that Mikaeri Bijin is actually a painting?~ The song was meant for Sayumi. It's like a final farewell message of thanks - "you taught your younger sister, you were everyone's idol, she was a cool senior who stood tall and still, we will miss you beautiful lady."

This song is perfect and I love it. Don't judge me.

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And that's it for my single review. I'm sorry if this is really rushed or if I rambled too much about random things. I was in a rush to get this done. And now, I wanna say a few words about Sayumi before finishing up this entry.

I will be very frank - Sayumi has never be a favorite member of mine. When I became a fan of Morning Musume, it was around post-Koharu. Morning Musume was still in their Platinum Era .. ish. My favorite members of that time were Reina and Aika. I honestly did not care about Sayumi at all. I thought of her as very narcissistic and a tad annoying because she kept saying that she was the cutest of them all. However, as time pass, everyone else graduated except for Sayumi. She was the last remaining member from the Platinum Era ... the era where I fell in love with Morning Musume.

It really gave me a wake-up call and I think Sayumi got herself a wake-up call too. I was somewhere worried about this new Morning Musume. The girls are still somewhat .. under-experienced. They don't really have what it takes to actually stand on their own without help from their senior members. I have finally learn to appreciate Sayumi. I feel like Sayumi has undergone a somewhat significant character change. She is becoming more reliable to her members. She is a dependable leader. She really does care about Morning Musume. She's really putting her best foot forward and is leading Morning Musume into a new era.

Yes,, she still claims that she's the cutest and may or may not still be narcissistic. However, over the past eleven years that she had spent in Morning Musume, Sayumi has matured greatly. She has now become one of my most favorite leaders of Morning Musume. I feel like she really contributed a lot to the group ... She's unique and stands out in her own way. I really did came to appreciate Sayumi and I kinda feel bad for thinking badly of her in the beginning.

Now today's the end of a very pink era. Michishige Sayumi has graduated from Morning Musume and is not going to take a break from entertainment duties to rest. Sayumi really deserves this rest. Eleven years as an idol can have a toll on you ... I firmly believe that Sayumi deserves this break. After doing so much, she needs this. And whatever she does in the future, I'm sure that she will do great in her own way. Okay now .. ONE LAST TIME!

*:.｡☆USA-CHAN PEACE!☆｡.:*･°˖✧◝(＾∇＾)◜✧˖°