They Shoot Saki's, Don't They? ~ The Nakayoshi Battle Concert

Berryz工房＆℃-ute 仲良しバトルコンサートツアー2008春

My Berryz Kamen vs. Cutie Ranger DVD finally showed up in my mailbox yesterday.  I had a tough time deciding which version of this concert to purchase.  If I had to choose one member of the H!P Kids that I would want to see more footage of, it would be Yajima Maimi.  Maimi is in my opinion the most perfect Musume to ever be in Hello! Project.  But overall I like more members of Berryz Koubou.  So I chose the Berryz version.  After watching all of the bonus footage for both DVD's, I would've been fine with either one.  It is the concert itself that I am most interested in anyway.

Now that this judge has watched the concert on a virtual endless loop for the the last 24 hours, I am ready to make a decision on who the winner of the Nakayoshi Battle is.  I've said all along that overall I prefer Berryz as a group over C-ute.  Is that a giveaway for the final tally?  We'll see...

Round One

"A New Classic" ~ Man I miss Yokohama Arena!  Very pretty dresses, but Kanna and Captain's cowboy hats seem a little out of place.  I mentioned before in a previous post that I really liked Darling I LOVE YOU for the opener.  Especially the chorus and it's cool guitar work.  And I feel it has the potential to be an H!P event standard for years to come!  They basically sing this as a chorus, and it's one of my favorite performances of the night!  Berryz brings the fan fave but (in my opinion) overdone Special Generation.  One of the fun things to watch here is the line distribution when they do each others' songs.  For some reason I felt some of C-ute (namely Mai Mai and Chisato) seemed a little out of place singing this.  It was like the song is too mature for them or something.  On the other hand, Airi and Erika owned it.  Ooki na Ai de Motenashite is probably my favorite C-ute song.  It's a shorter song than SG, but all of Berryz seemed right at home with it.  Yurina sang Maimi's part perfectly.  Hmmm, I like the C-ute song better.  But performance wise, I give it to Berryz. First round MVP goes to Yurina!  (Berryz 1, C-ute 0)

 

Round Two

"70's Cop Drama VTR" ~ Actually everyone wins here.  What an excellent sequence!  And Maasa is fronting Berryz tonight?  I am in heaven!  Man does she look hot holding that...what the hell is that?  Berryz has more cool poses while C-ute goes for goofy and strange.  But I love the focus on all of their eyes.  Very cute!  I prefer Maasa over Kanna, and Berryz weapons were cooler.  (Berryz 2, C-ute 0)

Round Three

"The Obligatory Hits" ~   C-ute definitely has an edge in the dancing department!  They look and sound great doing Namida no Iro!  And I love the casual outfits, especially on Maimi and Mai Mai!  C-ute won last years' "Best New Artist Award" for good reason.  The way they have grown as performers in just the last two years is impressive!    Checking out the Berryz' attire for Munasawagi Scarlet.  My biased opinion says Maasa looks totally hot in the "Mary Anne from Gilligan's Island" outfit.  I also love the way Momo's shirt cuts her across the chest. It makes it look like she almost has a chest!   And Miyabi's "Got What You Need" t-shirt is great!  It's funny how LaLaLA Shiawase No Uta becomes a much better song when C-ute isn't wearing those pink and purple frilly monstrosities!  But I think Dschinghis Khan loses something without the costumes from the PV.  Each group does three songs, and they all performed flawlessly.  Bottom Line, this segment comes down to who's latest singles you like best.  C-ute has been getting the better songs lately and thus dominated this part of the show.  Maimi leads the way!  (Berryz 2, C-ute 1)

Round Four

"David vs. Goliath" ~ Is this really even a contest?  Everyone had to know that Airi would blow Risako away on Very Beauty.  One of Riichan's biggest problems is she doesn't know how to project.  As a result she sounds shaky and whiny.  She needs to put more power behind her voice!  But I'm really starting to feel sorry for Risako.  She gets bashed a lot on the posts.  A lot more criticism than she deserves.  Jeez, she's just fourteen years old for cripes sake!  Give her a break.  By the way, Airi was just amazing on this song!!!  (Berryz 2, C-ute 2)

Round Five

"The Shuffles" ~  I've never watched a concert without becoming a fan of at least one song I've never given a chance to before.  Bokuga no Kagayaki (and That's The POWER later on) had me going right to EBay to find a copy of C-ute's second indie CD!  Chisato is a great singer!  She and Kanna dominate here.  Watch for the moment Chisa almost gets crushed in between Maasa and Yurina, too funny!  I'm not a huge fan of Sayonara Hageshiki Koi.  Maimi was very good singing alongside Momo and Miyabi!  But I had to play the track about five times because it kept losing my attention.  MVP: Chisato (C-ute 3, Berryz 2)

 

Round Six

"C-ute Takes Over" ~ Let me start by saying that Erika has historically been my least favorite H!P Kid.  But that just changed!  The next few songs are my favorite part of the concert by far!  That's The POWER is a great song.  I love the calypso sound to it.  And Do Don Ga Don Ondou was my favorite performance of the night.  Erika just blew me away with how good she was.  Not only is she having a great time singing the song, but you can tell everyone else is having fun doing the "Do Don Ga Don" parts.  Who is the Egg with the glasses on?  Kawaii!  Erika is obviously the MVP here.  "Solo Artist" kept coming to my mind as I was watching her!  (C-ute 4, Berryz 2)

Round Seven

"A Quick Appearance By Buono!" ~ I love Buono!  And I am looking forward to seeing their new songs performed on the Summer DVD.  Honto no Jibun was less than 90 seconds long.  That's too bad.  They went a little longer on Renai Rider.  I really like these outfits.  And I know I'm going to hell for this, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Airi's caboose the whole time.  Momoko's thighs aren't too shabby either.  Hey, the wardrobe department knows what they are doing when they put Airi in a pair of shorts like that.  It is meant to titillate.  Round seven winner?  Airi's arse steals the show! (C-ute 5, Berryz 2)

Round Eight

"They Shoot Saki's, Don't They?" ~ As much as I love Maimi, I've never really liked Natsu Doki Lipstick.  But this is as much about the dancing as the song itself.  We all knew Maimi and especially Captain Saki were superior dancers.  But I never knew Nakajima Saki was as good as this.  She is a bit lanky which makes her seem like she's all "arms and legs".  But she moves with great energy and passion.  The Captain is simply amazing, and her dance moves took all the attention away from Maimi.  I'll bet this part drove the DVD editors crazy.  Who should they focus on?  The Captain for the win! (C-ute 5, Berryz 3)

Round Nine

"It's Just Wrong" ~ I feel sorry for Saki and Maimi.  They just finished an extremely energetic performance and then they have to immediately do another strenuous dance.  So far the outfits throughout the entire show have been really impressive.  I can't imagine any of them making it into Celestia's "Costume Hall of Shame"  Sexy silver (C-ute) and copper (Berryz) skirts and matching tops that show off their midriffs when they dance.  Massara Blue Jeans and Jiriri Kiteru are two songs that benefit from powerful live performances.  And watching C-ute gyrating their hips on the "Love Me x4" line really surprised me.  Is it legal for them to be dancing like that?  NakaSaki really gets into it too!  They do some hip gyrations during the Berryz song as well, but you can tell they were all starting to get a little tired at that point.  Nakajima Saki's hips for the win! (C-ute 6, Berryz 3)

Round Ten

"Dueling Crowd-Pleasers" ~  There has never been a bad performance of Jump or Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun.  They are both phenomenally good songs in concert!  Both of these renditions are on par with the Hello! Project chorus versions done in 2007.  "Yuujou" in the Winter and "Jump" in the Summer.  But of the two songs, I prefer Yuujou.  While Jump is really fun, Yuujou just rocks out!  This rounds' winner?  Chinami working the crowd.  This rounds' loser?  The two jerkoffs in the "family seats" apparently sleeping behind Maasa!  (C-ute 6, Berryz 4)

Round Eleven

"Paging Tom Cruise" ~ I am so happy Maasa is getting a bigger role in Berryz Koubou.  First Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance, and now this.  I guess she is considered a pretty good actress.  She is just too adorable.  This is the MC portion of the show where they all "take on" that robot from the opening VTR that looks like a rejected idea from the War of the Worlds remake!  On the Cutie Ranger side, I love that little grin Airi gives when she introduces herself as "Cutie White"  But Berryz, and especially Maasa Sudou are the stars here.  But did they defeat the robot?  Will we ever find out! (C-ute 6, Berryz 5)

Round Twelve (Final Round)

"All Good Things (and Robots) Must Come To an End" ~ Ohhhhh.   So for some reason singing Warera! Berryz Kamen was so offensive to the monsters' ears that it just exploded?  This is a really cute sequence with the monster antagonizing them in the middle of the song.  And the "Power Ranger" uniforms are another winner.  The final song is Sakura Chirari?  Interesting choice to close the show.  I noticed they were playing Ganbacchae! in the background as the girls left the stage.  Now that would be a cool song to close a Hello! Project concert with!  Berryz takes the final round because their song destroyed the enemy.  "Sakura Chirari" couldn't hurt a fly!  So the winner is...

 

A TIE???

Uggh! Just like kissing your sister.  Actually there is a winner here.  And no, it isn't Airi's butt (although it should be).  The actual winner is...

 

Anyone who bought either version of this DVD!

CK in California