We meet again EXO.

I’ve said in various posts how I feel about EXO, particularly on K, and how I was a bit disappointed with their mini last year. But I think they may just redeemed themselves because…Baby Don’t Cry and My Lady are …

What happened Teen Top?

From the first track that was released, I Wanna Love, I wasn’t impressed from first listen.  I was hoping that would not be an indication of how the rest of the album would be, full album I shall add as well, because I didn’t want 11 tracks of blah. I thought I Wanna Love would have more umph factor but it just lacked a lot of things for me. I’m thinking that track might grow on me but I’m as positive as ever that Miss Right will not grow on me. Honestly I found all the components of the song quite annoying. As for the video to Miss Right, I am luckily still impressed by Teen Top’s choreography.

I’m not sure what happened to their “sound”, I can barely stand whatever they just put out. The autotune was way overdone here. I think they picked some good title tracks but I just wasn’t feeling them. But it seems I am a minority with my thoughts of the album, for many others are praising the album. I don’t feel as if their album was cohesive and meaningful, it seemed to have a few good tracks and the rest were filler tracks. It’s really a shame because I’ve really been on board for their last few comebacks. Better luck next album.

Higlights of the album: Hello, Never Go Back, Mad At U

Meh: Missing You, I Wanna Love

Downfalls: Why, Stop Girl, Miss Right, Intro (no. 1)

Filler songs that had no real place or value: So Sweet, Go Crazy

Happy Two Year Anniversary + Evaluation Poll

I’ve hit the two year mark now!

I feel like I say this all the time but honestly, never thought I would still be blogging now. I’ve always been against anything social networking related and blogging but I somehow got convinced to make a blog. Regardless, I’m very glad I did. Blogging is great outlet for me, even when I swore no one was reading my blog. I’m very thankful for my readers and subscribers, I don’t know if I would have kept blogging without you all.

I always like to see what direction my blog is going and sometimes just seeing what the most popular post is isn’t the greatest indication for me. I’m going to try to do this yearly, at the very least, just to see where I’n going. I did this in the summer and I kind of got an idea of what my readers like the most. This one is a little different, I took out some options that I don’t really focus on anymore. Cast your vote below or leave a comment!

{Final Review} To The Beautiful You

I’m not going to lie, going into this drama I can’t say I had the highest expectations. I still hold the Japanese version quite near and dear and didn’t expect this version to live up to anything special. But I will say, …

{Final Review} Kimi Ni Todoke

Going into this movie, I didn’t have high expectations. Not because I was against it from the beginning, but I wasn’t very familiar with it. I didn’t read the manga or watch the anime, though I heard some positive things about both. …

Let’s talk about the ‘Sexy, Free & Single’ album.

From what I gathered, people had fears that the title track would be an additional version of Sorry Sorry. In my opinion, the title track doesn’t sound anything like Sorry Sorry. This song is much more blander. I really can’t even imagine this song as a title track because it’s not that great sounding. It lacks that umph that title tracks usually have. But I must be part of a minority because the song is received quite well.

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This song is dedicated to the ELFs and I think it’s a great track to include. My thought of it? I like it. Don’t love it, but I do like the sound of it. I’m sure many fans are appreciating this track.

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I got a headache listening to this song. End of story.

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I just fall for ballads. There’s no stopping me. Not only does it sound beautiful, it’s sang very well. Ryeowook sounded great ^.^

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I wasn’t too fond of the beat of this track. I’m quite meh about this track.

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My brother loves this song. I’m not too sold though. Maybe it’ll take a few more listens.

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So far this is my favorite ballad.

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Next to the title track, I think this is the next boring track of the album. I’d gladly skip this track any day.

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Ah the piano got me in the beginning. I take that back, this is my favorite ballad. I could leave this on replay all day.

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Next to Daydream, this is my favorite track. Kyuhyun’s vocals and Ryeowook’s vocals equal a gorgeous ballad.

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All in all I’m quite impressed with Super Junior’s album. I didn’t expect it to be that good. I do believe this album was much better than Mr. Simple. I won’t say the album is amazing though because some tracks I couldn’t stand and I could have went all my life without hearing. If I had to give it a rating, I’d say 3.5/5.

U-KISS set out to amaze us, but I’m not sure they got the job done.

I have to admit, when I heard about U-KISS’s comeback, I was pretty excited. They impressed me with Neverland so I expected them to do the same with Doradora. Amazing was released first and I have to say, I was not amazed. It was a decent track, but very far of amazing. I didn’t expect for that to be any indication for the rest of the album, but I was sadly mistaken.

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DORADORA

It really pains me to say this, but I had to struggle to get through the song. This is their title track so I really wanted to like the song but I just couldn’t get into it. There was nothing to really draw me into the song. I thought the single would be more bam impact on me like Neverland did. The main thing is the song doesn’t really have a climax. And the dubstep? Not really there. No comment on the video since it hasn’t been released yet, but I’ll be sure to update this once it does.

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4U

Composed by Jay Park and you know it from the first line. I actually prefer if Jay sang this instead but U-KISS does a pretty good job of performing it. I can’t help but compare it to Jay’s sound so I’m sure that’s why I’m pretty fond of the song. Pretty much anything Jay Park produces is amazing to my ears ^.^ It’s a fun upbeat song though, it can easily put you in a good mood or get you to bop your head.

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When Love Stops

Ah a ballad. The easiest way to get me onboard. I have to say, it’s not an amazing ballad in my book. It doesn’t strike me emotionally so I consider it a surface ballad. Those are the ballads that are pleasant to your ears however you don’t really feel anything. I think part of the reason is it’s a more upbeat ballad so I don’t think it should have the same emotional impact. And the thing is U-KISS can execute great ballads, but this just isn’t one of them.

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Amazing

Amazing is very Neverland sounding. The beat especially. I can’t say it left me with the same impact though. Just like with DORADORA, I had to struggle to get through the song. Amazing was very short of amazingness. I do believe it was misnamed. But if I had to choose, I’d go with Amazing just because Kevin partially saves the song. Amazing just wasn’t a very filling song, it left me with the is that all feeling. It’s just that generic pop song I”ve heard so many times before. It has the catchy chorus and that’s it. There isn’t any real substance to the song.

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Tick Tock [Out of Time] (Korean Version)

Like most people, the Japanese version just sounds better to me. I think it’s mostly due to the fact that the Japanese version was released first. This one will take some getting used to. It’s like of like when Mirotic was released in Japanese, I couldn’t stand it but it was solely because the Korean version had been out for a while. Besides that, the song isn’t bad at all. Certainly not a brilliant track but it’ll do.

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I was really excited for their comeback and I hate that I was so disappointed. There isn’t really a song on the album I can say I’m excited about or one I would really recommend to a friend. The album is so average to me, there isn’t even a shining song to save the album. Personally, Neverland was a better album. I really thought they would win with Neverland so I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t win with this album. They set a high bar with Neverland and DoraDora just didn’t meet expectations. I might get attacked by those rabid Kiss Mes with this review but I could care less. The album wasn’t magnificence. Even the ballad, which usually saves albums from my critics, can’t even save this album. If there is a fan that wants to listen to U-KISS for the first time, I definitely would not recommend this album.

The SHINee part of EXO K + review on “MAMA”

I really wasn’t trying to review their album but it’s happening now. There’s ton of these out there but it can’t hurt to add another. I had listened to half the album and I wasn’t planning on listening to the rest of it but today I somehow got around to doing it. I doubt it’ll be as thorough as my SHINee Sherlock one, but you never know.

I have to talk about the teasers, this wouldn’t be a review without talking about the teasers. Since December the excitement and anticipation for EXO was built up. Fans were gained, fans were lost and I teetered between the two. It was around February that I officially considered myself a  fan and my like-dislike relationship with Kai grew to a special fondness. News finally broke out in April that officially, on the 9th, EXO would be making their debut and fans wouldn’t have to endure anymore of those teasers.

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Their title track, MAMA, is definitely a hit or miss. You either loved it from the beginning, or you questioned its existence. I for one was on the questioning side. I wasn’t too fond of the song in the beginning, it didn’t have that repetitive chorus that made the song easier to learn. And the song is not my genre of music so even to this day, it will never make it on my iPod.

The video is a completely different story though. I can’t say I loved the video but it was definitely interesting. The first minute and the half is pointless, honestly. I acknowledge the attempt of trying something new however I don’t think it was executed well. The video is much better without it. Overall the best way I can describe the video is dark. It’s kind of eerie with the chants and robes (if that’s what they are, if not forgive me). The effects were nice though, they added an addition wow factor to the video.

Watching the video a third time, the choreography grew on me. Before I preferred History’s choreo over MAMA’s but I can appreciate MAMA’s in its entirety because there were some highlights within the dance. However what didn’t grow on me, is that face paint on Kai. Still a no no in my book. It looks much better in EXO M. However the dance during that part is my favorite so I guess that saves Kai.

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I’m going to try not to discuss how useless I think these singles being called “prologue” singles are. That’s one of the reasons why MAMA didn’t have such an impact on me that it should have had. Since I had already experience two of EXO’s singles, I got a real good idea of EXO so I feel like I saw them already and MAMA didn’t bring anything new but a different genre.

But back to the song. This song is gorgeous, loving the vocals completely. I don’t really have anything bad to say (that’s what the power of ballads does to me.). If anything, the video was pretty pointless in my opinion. It seemed like a big compilation of the teasers to me.

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I like to consider this their first real music video. I actually would have been more than content with them debuting with History. In the beginning, I was not too fond of the song but it definitely grew on me. It has the catchy chorus, which makes the song easier to pick up on unlike MAMA, and the choreography is fresh and unique. I think the reason why it wasn’t picked as  a title track was because it would have been too generic of a debut song.

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I’ve heard this song twice and this was why I made the review. It’s the closest thing besides What is Love, to Baby Don’t Cry, in my opinion. There’s one part in the chorus that I just love the way its sung and that’s what sold me on the song. No complaints here besides the fact that I hear about three maybe four voices and I’m sure EXO K has six members.

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I am strangely addicted to this song. It seems to follow under MAMA’s sound, away from a ballad. It lacks actual singing, which is a classic case for me to dislike but I’m perfectly fine with it in this song. I thought possibly Key would sound out of place here, but he blends in perfectly, almost like the seventh member of EXO K.

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The whole time I listened to this song, I couldn’t stop thinking it was really SHINee singing. It’s such a SHINee like song that it sounds out of place on the album. I think the other songs on the album actually established a EXO sound and this song didn’t sound like the sound they began to establish for themself. Except the rap, it was not SHINee like at all.

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All and all, I thoroughly enjoyed the album even though the two tracks I really wanted were not on the album. I still believe the album is suffering an identity crisis with all the different genres in the album. The album wasn’t as cohesive as I would have liked, but then again, I have to remember they are rookies. Do I think they lived up to the hype created? No, not at all. However I definitely recommend anyone who is interested in trying out EXO to give them a try.

My candid thoughts on ‘Sherlock’.

I guess you could say I was really looking forward to SHINee’s comeback. Not as looking forward to it as  a Shawol was though. Personally, I think it was a decent album. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I know, it’s really hard to blow me away with albums. I don’t know how someone could say this is an amazing album, because it really isn’t amazing. It probably sounds amazing to some just because SHINee has been gone for a while.

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I think Sherlock is a good title track, nice and catch. I even had it on replay for a while.

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The thing that saves this album are the lovely ballads. I’m such a ballad lover so it was like I was being catered to. The Reason is probably my least favorite of the ballads though, I just don’t feel it as much as I feel Honesty. But I really love Onew’s voice in The Reason but I think Taemin steals the show in Honesty. I have to say, Taemin is starting to really get noticed for his voice. I’m glad since I really have a thing for his voice. Unfortunately, Key my love….I don’t know what to say about his voice. I mean I feel like somehow, some way his voice has deterioted.

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I’m not sure what I think of Stranger, I’m not too fond of it actually. I didn’t like it on their Japanese album so that’s probably why I don’t like it here. I only got through half the song before moving on. That’s less than I got through with Alarm Clock, which I deem the boring track of the album.  It was almost painful to get through the latter track.

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My biggest problem with this album is why in the world is Sherlock combined of Clue and Note. I mean I felt like I was wasting my time listening to Note and Clue. I think it was pointless to include them. As my fellow blogger said, lazy effort by SM. Please if you haven’t listened to the album, do not listen to Note or Clue. Just listen to Sherlock. I really can’t fathom why SM did that. Honestly. I don’t think Note or Clue can even stand alone.

Overall the album was average to me, I say give it a listen but don’t expect too many songs to be playing on your iPod.

{Final Review} High School Debut

Ah I thought this movie was so adorable! Not as adorable as Lovely Complex though ^.^ I had already read the manga and I was a bit skeptical of watching the movie because I didn’t think it would live up to the manga. This is as spoiler free as I could possibly make it.

Character Development: It’s pretty evident that Haruna was mainly focused on in the development area. I didn’t really see much of a change in Yoh, except he smiled more in the second part of the movie. But with Haruna, there is noticeable development. 9/10

Plot: There’s not much I can say about the plot since I read the manga. I mean there were a few deviations which I was fine with, and some parts were left out completely. To me that’s fine since I know that backstory but to new fans it might have confused them why this happened or didn’t happen. I do feel that the movie moved a bit fast though, one minute Asami is cooing over Fumi and the next she’s on his lap and the next they are going out. 9/10

Relationship between Characters: I could not stop gushing with Haruna and Yoh’s friendship turned relationship. I thought it was really cute, especially with Haruna spazzy side juxtaposing with Yoh’s cool side. However with everyone else, I was a bit disappointed. I mean with Mami, she seemed like some random person instead of Haruna’s best friend. Asami and Fumi’s relationship disappointed me as well because I felt that the movie didn’t develop their relationship. And Asaoka…..honestly he seemed so out of place. 8/10

Music: I actually wasn’t feeling this soundtrack. I mean, for some reason the music fell flat to me. I didn’t feel as if any of the music complimented the movie. 6/10

Acting: The acting was alright. It had it’s high and low points. The main cast, Junpei Mizobata and Ito Ono were decent. There were times when Mizobata was just eh to me and he looked like he was blending into the wall but that seemed to be near the beginning of the movie. Ito Ono played Haruna’s part a bit over the top in my opinion because I don’t remember Haruna being that eccentric. I think Masaki Suda shined in the movie, he played his part well. 8/10

Final Verdict: All in all this movie was a cute and enjoyable movie. It’s something to keep you entertained but not anything that’ll be too memorable. 40/50 —> 80%