The Digitalian - Album Review

The Vegetarian Digitalian is finally here, throbbing through our poor fangirl bodies in the form of an inexplicably irresistible mass of geometrically arranged... leaves and fruit.

It's probably a testament to Arashi's staying selling power that this album can still sell well despite the LE cover looking like this:

The Arashi members, just so you know, were all perfectly aware of how similar sounding "Vegetarian" is with "Digitalian" in Japanglish. You can say that this graphic is no accident. No ho... Hah. But all vegetable jokes aside, this album is actually coming at a very special time. Not only is this their 15th anniversary, but The Digitalian is also the successor to what is perhaps the most phenomenally polished and musically riveting Arashi album ever: LOVE. There's certainly a lot to live up to, and after producing something as amazing as LOVE, the standard for their music has certainly been raised, and I think fans will probably be less forgiving of sloppy music from now on.

And yes, I am a huge fan of LOVE, but I am aware that not all people might share my enthusiasm for it, so consider yourselves warned that this post will contain some LOVE/Digitalian comparisons and that everything written here is my own personal opinion, which has no musical or professional authority whatsoever.

Arashi is certainly trying their hardest with this new album. They're going for a "digital" theme, which manifests in a few heavily techno tracks, and a techno elements mixed into other genres here and there. They're doing something pretty new, and very very dynamic. In fact, if I had to describe this album in one word, it'd be dynamic. Movement and action just permeate The Digitalian, which makes it pretty different from LOVE, because LOVE was sleek, mature and had quite a smattering of weighty tracks like "Ai Wo Utaou" and "Yozora e no Tegami." It also showed off some beautifully tender Arashi sounds in tracks like "sugar and salt," "Sayounara no Ato de," "Tears." The Digitalian brings us something decidedly less ponderous. I'd say of the 17 tracks on this new album, only the 3rd and 16th ones, "Tell Me Why" and "Hope in the Darkness" qualifies as having the same subdued/weighty tones as the LOVE tracks mentioned above. The rest of the album is all about action, from the shake-your-shake-your-body "Zero-G" to the five-times exclamatory "Take Off!!!!!"

So without further ado, let's get into the specific songs.

Arashi CM's - Gifspam!

I just binge-watched about three hours worth of Arashi CM's, from pre-debut to their 15th anniversary. And the amazing part is that I'm pretty sure there's still loads of stuff out there that I haven't even seen or heard of. I really, really enjoy CM's as a fan. They're so gorgeous they're practically like animated magazine shoots, full of glossiness and hilarity and positive energy.

Anyways, enjoy this gifspam into the shiny, plastic world of commercials!

*And yes, this is going to be a pure gifspam. Unadulterated by my rambling comments. It's loooong, so please allow a few minutes for your browser to load.

Aiba for Tongari Corn

Random Soubusen Moments ❤

These are in no particular order. Just random notes I jotted down over the last few months of little moments that caught my interest =D

1. Nino's answer to "If you were a girl, which Arashi member would you date?"

From the 2009.04.25 episode of Ousama no Brunch.

If you watched this episode, you might recall that before announcing his answer, Nino indicated that the gap between the fourth and fifth places was huge, pulling the chair for the fifth place far out to the end of the stage. Then, he names poor Aiba as the member he would least want to date.

Mukae ni Iku yo (むかえに行くよ) - Arashi Song Review

人混みのなか步く　疲れる街のノイズ
なぜだろう　淚がこぼれた
Through the crowds I walk / the noise of the weary city
And without knowing why / the tears spill out.

Oh Nino, you vulnerable, puppy-eyed ball of melancholy! That shiver in your voice, that little dip as you sing of spilling tears, that brittle tremor, oh, oh! 

This song had me at its first chorus. But it had me in tears at Nino's solo verse.

It's just so delicate, so lilting, so expressive and emotional. Arashi may not have composed the melody or written the lyrics, but their voices are the direct vehicles to our hearts, and it's on these beautifully laid bare voices that the full yearning in this song is delivered, from Aiba's muted velvet tones in the beginning to the wistful cooings of "Uuu, uuu..." that melt softly into the hum of strings at the end. 

Mukae ni Iku yo is one of the more pensive numbers in Arashi's 2010 Boku no Miteiru Fuukei album, and was sung in concert against a background video of two battered robots walking through deserted landscapes to finally find each other in a tender embrace. It is one of my favorite Arashi songs, and the lack of performance videos of it is one of my most often lamented Arashi things.

2014/09/20 Hawaii Blast concert review

A concert staff member greeting guests with
complimentary leis that have an Arashi charm on them!

How do I begin. 

I feel like something in the way I approach Arashi has changed, like I'm not the same kind of fan I was before, like there's this new dimension to my idolization of these five men that has been born of simply seeing them with my own two eyes. 

Jackets to the floor, babes, we're gonna give you some LOVE - Concert DVD Review

Throw'em to the floor, Arashics!

I swear, Intergalactic has just gained at least 80 plays since I watched the LOVE DVD. Yes, this moment has finally come. Some of you who have followed this blog since its early days may know that I am a huuuuge fan of Intergalactic. I wrote a song review on it, in which I flailed so hard I nearly dislocated my ovaries to outer space, because this song is just. that. good. And I think I mentioned even back then (what was it again, November? of last year) that I was expecting some fabulicious costumes and sexy space choreography to party to when this finally got performed in concert.

Hora~! 

Oh wait, was that not a good enough view? Here, have a close-up!

Dance in the starship, babies! God Riida, your hair! I could not stop sighing over your hair (especially since my previous Prince of Perfect Hair MatsuJun decided to go with the sleazeball slick in this concert, poo~).

Arashi CM's - When Corporate Giants Take Note of (and Capitalize) Arashi Personalities

It's the year of Arashi's 15th debut anniversary, and our five lovely men are going to be in Hawaii this September to celebrate it in style. With 30,000 fans there to celebrate with them, of course. But the fans aren't the only ones eager to show their appreciation of the wonderful social phenomenon that is Arashi. Several of Japan's biggest corporations are also publicly throwing their weight behind the Arashi Hawaii Blast 2014 with special deals and interactive quizzes/raffles that offer consumers the chance to win the highly coveted tickets to the concert. I'm talking about international industry giants like Hitachi and Nissan, both of which are offering concert tour packages to a few lucky winners, and other prominent companies like Salonpas (also offering concert tour packages to participants who complete a quiz and then enter a raffle) and JAL (Japan Airlines), who is collaborating directly with J&A to provide the air transportation in the aforementioned concert tour packages.

From top to bottom: Hitachi, Nissan, Salonpas, all
offering chances to win Awashi Blast tour packages!
(via @st0rmluuuuuv on Twitter)

And what do these four companies all have in common? That's right, an Arashi endorsement! Nino is currently the face of Salonpas, while all five members appear in ads for the other three.

Which brings us to the vibrant topic of Arashi CM's. I'll admit it, I obsess over Arashi CM's. I download them, I watch every second of the precious 15 or 30 seconds of running time, and I even delight myself with the short little "making of" segments that pop up on ZIP! or Asa Days or whatever other news digest program it is that reports them.