Song Review: Pillowtalk by Zayn

I realized my Reviews are focusing a little too much in the East, so for a change I decided to look at the Billboard Top 40 and review the song which currently has the number 1 spot, which happens to be Pillowtalk by the death of One Direction, Zayn Malik (admit it, 1D was done for when he left).

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Let's get one thing out of the way: this song is BORING. This seems to be a common theme in Pop music today, and I'm not saying this because I'm a Rocker or a Metalhead. I listen to just as much Pop as I do Rock and Metal. I don't know who started this trend but everything is sounding almost like lounge music with a beat. It's just so weak and uninteresting, and this song is no exception. Another problem, there's not much to talk about musically speaking. The Music is all synths and drum machine, and it sounds generic, pretty much. The vocals sound good, although it's most likely autotuned. Zayn kinda slurs the lyrics of this song, he could've vocalized better. This song really gives me nothing to work with at a music level, it's boring and generic. I will give it it this, though. This song is about sex, pretty much, and I'm no sex expert, but I could definitely see people having sex to this song, or this song being used in a sex scene. The beat (while it sucks) does keep a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow). I don't think this was the intention of the song, but hey, it's better than nothing. Although, the bridge (where Zayn repeats "Paradise" and "War Zone" over and over again) destroys that pacing. Ok, so I got nothing here. It's not bad enough to hate and it's not good enough to like.

So, the song sucks, but what about the lyrics? Well, they are as generic as you can get. As mentioned before, this is a song about having sex. But in an attempt to sound poetic they throw this opposition gimmick we've seen a thousand times.
"We'll go slow and High-Tempo"
"I'm seeing the pain, seeing the pleasure"
"A Place that is so pure, dirty and raw"
"It's our paradise and our war zone"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_3d6GntKbk

The lyrics aren't particularly bad, I think. Again, they're just not interesting. If we changed all the lyrics for "la" it wouldn't be a loss. The only part that really bothers me is when he sings "Nobody but you, 'body but me, 'body but us". PRONOUNCE "NOBODY" PROPERLY PLEASE. "'body" sounds stupid, and it has no purpose to be. I've sang the song, it still fits on the tempo. If it's a kind of joke, set up, or build up to the next line "Bodies together" then that is even stupider. If it's some sort of pun, you gave it away before you got to it, so it doesn't work.


Over all, is the song good? No. Is it bad? No. I've certainly heard bad songs on the radio in the past month, and this is not one of them. I wouldn't listen to this song, but if I were at a party and the DJ plays it, I wouldn't complain either. Why are people listening to it is beyond me. I guess is because people just need some background noise but I don't know. I would suggest you go ahead and judge for yourself, I stance on this song is a simple "meh".

Band Overview and Concert Night: Wagakki Band

I'm doing this review as a double review, where I talk about the band and about the performance in Irving Plaza on March 14th because not only I feel it would be easier than doing 2 reviews, but also because I feel that I need to talk about both things simultaneously to properly talk about this band.

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If you don't listen to J-Rock or J-Pop, you most likely haven't heard of this band. To you who don't listen to J-Rock and to those who do and don't know this band, all I have to say is this: WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?
Here's the Youtube Mix playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_xTet06SUo&list=RDEMmasccFDm4G0H4rd_7pz6Hw
Go ahead and listen to this band. There are a few BABYMETAL, One OK Rock, and Nano tracks sneaked in there, but that's pretty much all the videos Wagakki Band has released.

I cannot stress enough that this band is AMAZING, and watching them live is even better. Like Diablo Swing Orchestra, I wish this band had more mainstream recognition because, not only are they WAY better than The Weekend, Drake, Justin Bieber, in other words, what you hear in mainstream radio right now (and I'll let you know why in a moment), but also they are unique with their style and performance unlike many artists today which are just straight up rip-offs of each other.

Who is Wagakki Band?

Let's start with the basics. Wagakki Band is a Japanese Rock group composed by 8 members, and their style of music is a combination of (as Yuko Suzuhana, the lead singer explained) "traditional Japanese instruments and  western instruments" and hence, the name ("和楽器" =Traditional Japanese Musical Instrument + "Band"). The members go as follows:
Yuko Suzuhana: Vocals
Michiya: Lead Guitar and Backing Vocals
Asa: Bass
Wasabi: Drums
Kurona: Wadaiko
Daisuke Kaminaga: Shakuhachi
Kiyoshi Ibukuro: Koto
Beni Ninagawa: Tsugaru Shamisen

They formed in 2013 by covering Vocaloid songs on Youtube, one of their most famous include Senbonzakura and Roku Chounen to Ichiya Monogatari. They released their first album Vocalo Zanmai in 2014 and their Second album Yasou Emaki in 2015.

Why is Wagakki Band Good?

As you can tell, I am a big fan of this band, but I'll try to forget all that and be as objective as possible, and then again, whether something is "good" or not is really subjective. This is why I think this band is so good, please read it and  listen to the band. Maybe we'll agree, maybe you like the band for other reasons, or maybe you don't like the band at all (if that's the case, what's wrong with you, seriously...).

Probably the first thing anyone who likes this band will tell you if you ask them this question is: They are very unique. While being "unique" doesn't necessarily mean it's good, it does give you something new to enjoy if done right, and this band does it perfectly. Their "theme" is a combination of Rock and traditional Japanese music, and the way they arrange the songs reflect that, while it's obvious to point out at the Japanese instruments, you should also note that, when given the chance, the vocal phrasing and melody are very traditional as well. The way Wagakki Band puts it together, though, it's not to make one style complement the other, but for them to be together. Neither of the styles is an accessory to the other. Wagakki Band's musical style is the Epiphany of "East meets West".

Once again, the lyrics are in Japanese (as you would expect) so I can't judge them properly. I have looked for the translations to some of their songs, and I love the lyrics in them, and they are amazing. However, some of them were (once again) Vocaloid covers. I do believe, however, that just because you don't understand the lyrics of a song you shouldn't listen to it, which is unfortunately the reason why most people wouldn't like this band and it's sad because the music is really good and the lyrics (as far as I know) are too. What makes this even worse is that in reality, if you want to know what they are saying, all you need to do is type "(name of the song here) lyrics English" on google.

Why is Wagakki Band Good (Part 2) and Wagakki Band @ Irving Plaza

I merged the last point on what makes them a great band with their concert because you cannot speak of one without the other.

Finally, these musicians are top notch. All 8 members are extremely talented in their craft and you can tell in their songs, but this really shines during their concerts. In their concerts (and I can speak from experience now) they really let themselves go. Between their musicianship, music, passion, and energy, you get sucked in into their realm. They really give it their all and do it for the music and the fans. After the concert ended, people yelled "Encore". They came back out and decided to play one more song, but they weren't prepared for an encore (I guess they weren't expecting to have an encore). They Played Senbonzakura one more time just for us. Watching them is also very fun. They tend to dance around and do all sorts of cool little tricks while playing and you can tell they are having fun. In fact, dare I even say, it's like Wagakki was full of Mick Jaggers. They all could be the front man if they wanted. They all do their thing individually but are brought together through the music, so watching Wagakki perform is like watching a parade or a party which you are now a part of as well.

I can try to talk about their concert all day and not come close to describing the experience. Like I said before, it is their realm, their own little reality and like true art, it cannot be explained with mere words, it can only be experienced. I got so into the zone, my entire body has been hurting for 4 days (there was no mosh pit). I've really tried to find a way to describe the concert but I can't find a way to make it justice. Wagakki Band is one of, and if not, The Best concert I've been to so far (and I've seen A LOT of people including Metallica, Paul McCartney twice, Iron Maiden, Bon Jovi, BABYMETAL...). All I can do is tell you to watch Dai Ensoukai (their concert DVD), and although you can see their skills, being there is something else entirely. Like Jimi Hendrix, it's one thing to see him, and then there is being there.


Conclusion:

This was a really Long review, and I apologize, but there is a lot about this band. I seriously recommend this band, a lot (like, a lot). And if you see that they will perform somewhere near you, don't think about it and go. I recommend for you to listen to both of their albums. Most of the songs are great, and those that aren't are still pretty good.

-Vocalo Zanmai
-Yasou Emaki

Artist Overview: 5 Seconds of Summer

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Let's start the year talking about a very somewhat famous and popular band: 5 Seconds of Summer. I have talked about them before on my review of the concert at Nikon Theater, but having the same argument with two different friends pretty much compelled me to make a review solely on the band.

5 Seconds of Summer (or 5SOS for short), is a Pop Punk/Punk Rock band from Australia. They have been fairly successful worldwide and they are by far one of my favorite popular artists in recent memory and I am kind of sad that they don't seem to receive as much attention as other artist who honestly are way too boring like Justin Beiber, The Weekend, or god awful Drake.

I must address an important issue regarding this band before I get into their music: If 5 Seconds of Summer IS NOT a Boy Band, then there is, indeed, no "i" in "denial". It's amazing how 5SOS fans are claiming that 5SOS is not a boy band despite the fact that most of them are pre-teen girls defending a pop group filled with pretty boys that write songs obviously targeted to a pre-teen audience. One of my friends even sent me a wikipedia article defining "Boy Band" (of course, that backfired). Said article states the following points and I'll let you know if they apply to 5SOS:

1. "Is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation, singing love songs marketed towards young females" Check!
2. "Being vocal groups, most boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on stage...However, exceptions do exist." They do play their own instruments, but the shoe still fits.

The other argument my friend said was that their first album was very "Pop" but their new album "Sounds Good Feels Good" was more of a break out of that "Pop" image. Since I hadn't listen to the album yet, I couldn't argue with that. Now I did, so let's talk about it.

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5 Seconds of Summer has released two full length albums and A LOT of singles. The first one simply titled "5 Seconds of Summer" (released in 2014) and the other one being "Sounds Good Feels Good" (released in 2015). Their first album is pretty good. I enjoy most of their songs, my favorite being "End Up Here" and "Good Girls" (despite this one being a complete rip-off of "What's My Age Again?" by Blink-182). My two least favorite are "Amnesia" and "She's So Perfect". I don't dislike them, they are just Ok. "Amnesia" is too boring for me and a little too "sweet" (and I mean the feeling you get when you eat way too much chocolate). "She's So Perfect" to me feels like they are trying a little too hard (either that, or they are hitting a woman's weak spot on purpose), but the message is a good one and the song is alright.

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"Sounds Good Feels Good", the "break out of the pop sound" that my friend proclaimed. WHAT A LOAD OF BULLS***!! They sound even MORE POP than they did before! Any more Pop and they would be One Direction, and good timing, cause they are both just four members now. The only song I truly like is "She's Kinda Hot" and "Hey Everybody!" but the only reason I like "Hey Everybody!" is because is way too similar to "She's Kinda Hot" and also (after listening to it several times) it is a rip-off of "Hungry Like a Wolf" by Duran Duran. I don't like this album. The songs I like (which are like 2 or 3 besides "She's Kinda Hot" or "Hey Everybody!") I can't even remember them and those two are too distracting on their similarities so I can't enjoy them properly either. The rest of the album is album filler that is begging to be the main theme of a John Green movie. To be fair, I was expecting something else due to what my friend told me, so I got pissed when my expectations were not met. "Sounds Good Feels Good" is not bad by any means, it's just "meh". It's forgettable and not very original either. Also, it's too pop from a group that can give more of a Rock edge. When listening to this album, I felt I was listening to a hardcore One Direction album instead of a 5SOS album.

The band in the overall is a great BOY BAND (get over it and face the facts, people). Once again, I really like this band and I can at least say they ARE trying to be good musicians and performers. Their concerts are phenomenal and their music is pretty good as well, with exception of 50% of "Sounds Good Feels Good". I wish I could hear more about them in mainstream media and that they got more attention than they have because they are one of the best and most fun acts of the decade so far. I would definitely recommend 5 Seconds of Summer and if they are playing in your town, go and see them if you have the chance. For the Starter Pack, I recommend pretty much their first album, but specifically:

-End Up Here

-Heartbreak Girl

-Good Girls

-She's Kinda Hot

First Impression (Movie Review): The Hunger Games: The Mockingjay

There will be a reformation. I will try to keep this review spoiler free and the style might change a little bit.

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So, I think that anyone who saw the movie can agree that part 1 is a waste of film following this "4 movie trilogy" trend that either Harry Potter or Twilight began (I can't remember which one was it, which technically neither of them were trilogies to begin with, but you get the point). In order to say "screw you" to this trend I will review both films instead of just Part 2.

The Mockingjay Part 1: A pointless, stupid, waste of time and money, cash making filler. What is there more to say? The movie didn't give us anything, so what can I say more than that? It didn't even had a story (technically), it was the introduction to the story.

The Mockingjay Part 2: Finally we have A movie!

The Mockingjay Movies are easily the worst addition to the franchise because of this stupid idea of splitting the book in half. Even the cliff hanger they left us on was a dumb choice! In part 2, Katniss gets shot at the beginning of the movie. That could've been a better cliffhanger because she might actually die. We need to know what happened. Instead we got a BORING part 1, mediocre cliffhanger, an awkward beginning in part 2, and a decent movie that only looks great because of the last one. Otherwise, it could've been a very well done conclusion to the Hunger Games saga because the movies are not poorly made. The acting is good, the action and drama are good, and the effects are good.

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The Story of the Mockingjay part 2 is that District 13 is finally putting an end to the unjust reign of President Snow and the capital. Now, the capital is prepared for this and had installed traps for the rebels to fall into, and they were made in such extravagant fashion so that it can be used to entertain the public as well. Basically, THE HUNGER GAMES once more. And because Katniss is war propaganda, she and her squad follow the main forces from behind, which means they don't really fight, but doesn't mean that they are exempt from danger.

So I have a few questions regarding this movie, because even if the story is well told and the pacing is good, there are quite a few STUPID moments I need to point out and some questions I need to ask.
-Where are the capital civilians? The Propaganda Squad (yes, that's what I'm calling them) walk into a deserted city, where only debris and the remaining active traps can be found. However, we do see towards the end, people evacuating their houses to go into President Snow's Mansion, but that evacuation message was given later in the movie, so where are the civilians here? If they left, when did they? Before the attack? After the attack? During the attack? And where did they go if there was no "safe sanctuary" before Snow opened up his doors.
-Where are the other District 13 Squads? So we are told that the main force will move in before the Propaganda Squad in order to keep Katniss safe, and we can see that through the Capital Debris when the Propaganda Squad first enter the city. But where are they? Throughout the whole move after that point, the Propaganda Squad is the one and only target, AND there are no hits that there is any other fight besides that one when the movie explicitly told us that they were opening path for them, and no hint that the main rebel force was defeated or held at bay.

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-Why are the traps so inconsistent/dumb? They stop at just before they get really dangerous by convenience and again, where are these other squads? They have trap detector devices too and are more trained and capable soldiers than the Propaganda Squad, so why didn't they disable them like the Propaganda Squad was doing? Did they go a different route? If that's the case, then what was the point of leaving them behind? The danger was the traps they didn't know about, but all the traps we saw were detected by the device, so what's the excuse of not disabling the traps we saw in the movie? Also, why do the traps stop after one use? And why did the traps stop when another one starts when they are at the same place? Isn't better to have them both? So many questions...

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-Katniss got caught and/or killed approximately 13 times throughout this movie. There were some moments that there was no way she could have gotten away with the exception of (and ironically) the moment when she gets shot. Although convenient, you could argue she got lucky that they guy didn't shoot to the head. But other than that, there are A LOT of moments that Katniss should've gotten caught or killed, but she just got lucky for suffering from a severe case of Main-characteritis syndrome.
-The Movie ended 7 times. It had basically the same ending Return of the King did: it didn't want to end.
-The Mockingjay Rips off Resident Evil. I can't be the only one to Notice that the Lizard Mutts look just like Resident Evil Zombies from either Resident Evil 6 or Resident Evil Revelations.

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Random Journal

I now work at a gym, so I've been listening to the radio a lot, which is set to this one station which is playing pretty much modern Hip-hop hits. I know I might seem like a J-pop lover right now but in actuality I listen to pretty much every musical genre available, and I'm always looking to explore deeper and deeper into every genre, and hip-hop is no exception. In fact, I used to dance in a Hip-Hop dance crew before coming to College, but I'm getting side tracked here.

I don't like the hits that are coming on the radio today, but to be fair I do like a song or two from the modern hits. From this particular radio station, I don't like any of the songs they play, and a lot of them I've heard before in parties so it seems that is definitely a radio station that will focus on what the youth is listening to. Does that make them bad? No. Does that make the songs bad? Not at all. The fact that the songs are bad makes them bad. It's every lazy auto-tune and loops I've heard before and they all seem to sound the same. Seriously, I listen to this station for about 3 hours every time I work, and always, at some point (not right away) I ask myself "wait, didn't they play this already"? And I out of all of people know best that not all songs in a musical genre sound the same, I refuse to believe that's true (unless proven otherwise) because I listen to Japanese Music and Metal, probably the 2 genres that are accused the most of "sounding the same" and that's not true. As an avid listener and musician I know that is not true. But this radio station is kind of making me doubt my belief on Modern Hits. Besides, the songs never seem to last more than 2 minutes... What the hell is up with that? I know some of these songs are 5 minutes long because (again) I've heard them before.


Also, I went and participated in a Talent Show not long ago (it might be a different Story, but it kinda ties in with my problem with the radio station), and this guy came up stage and performed an original song. Cool! He said he wrote a rap song. Oh... this is going to be interesting. Rap is hard not because of the vocalization, but because I feel is one of those genres that you need a certain "groove" to make it work like Blues, Funk, and Soul. Also, the lyrical composition has to obviously require to have a flow and a rhyme. So, this was going to be interesting, however... It had no flow, no rhyme and he definitely lacked the "groove". It was too "modern". Modern rap seem to have decayed into too much techno and lazy lyrics (and I mean LAZY. Like, barely any fast raps, and some times not even "moderate speed rap") and yeah, it pretty much sucked. I admire his attempt and bravery of performing an original song, but if he is going to, he is going to be judged like any other performer.

First Impression (Movie Review): Love Live! The School Idol Movie

Movie Poster
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What a wonderful Experience! Love Live! The School Idol Movie was both funny and entertaining from beginning to end. On the whole, I enjoyed it a lot. It has a few details here and there (which I will go into detail in a moment), but that would be being picky. I saw this movie in theaters and I was just as exited as the others watching it with me. I didn't have high expectations on this movie because the anime was Ok, not a masterpiece but entertaining and it managed to get you invested in it. I had doubts on the movie because I felt that the ending of the series (last episode of the second season) was perfect, so I didn't know how were they going to make the movie fit in the chronology, and let alone be good, entertaining and satisfying.

I want to comment on the audience before I get into the movie itself. First off, I didn't expect to see so many Love Live! fans in New York. In fact, not only the show I went to was sold out, but also the one on the following Monday and there were just a few tickets left for Tuesday. Although I understand that 95% of the audience were more hardcore fans than me, but I was still surprised how invested these people were. When talking about the 5 Seconds of Summer Concert in my last post, I guess this was the type reaction I was expecting from the audience. If the viewers of the movie knew the songs, I would bet $1000 that they would have sing along as well. In this one scene, there is like a roll call that the main characters do before a presentation in which they count to 9, then they follow up by saying "Muse... Music.... START!" which everyone in the theater joined in on that "START". As you be able to tell right know, the movie had a really positive reaction from the audience, but does this mean that the movie is good? I mean, people cheered for their favorite character at the beginning of the movie and each one had a different amount of fans on their own, so I guess you could say that the audience was predisposed to like the film. My personal take is that although they were, the movie was really good on its own right.  Let me explain (I may give away the ending of the anime, so if you haven't finished it: SPOILER ALERT).

Village East Cinema in NYC

The movie starts with Honoka Kousaka, Umi Sonoda, and Kotori Minami playing in a playground as children. Honoka is trying to leap over a big puddle of water, but she can't reach to the other side. Kotori tells Honoka to stop and Umi is telling her that is impossible, however, the mud-covered Honoka refuses to give up and gives it one more try. On her next attempt she manages to leap over the puddle. As an introduction, although cliche, is a nice way to ease you in and it gives you a little development on Honoka's character. After this scene, the movie jumps to were the second season left off: the third grade high school students are graduating and all 9 members of μ's (Muse) decide that once the third graders graduate, the group will disband (I warned you about the spoilers, didn't I?) because once they graduate, they can't still be School Idols and the group would not be the same without all the original 9 members. Hanayo runs to meet up with the group and show them big news she just received. Apparently, the success of the Love Live festival (a concert were several school idol groups perform and the audience decides who the winner would be. Normally, is just a yearly event, but this particular year was successful to have a second Love Live which μ's won) this year had been so successful that they are going to do a THIRD Love Live, this time in a bigger venue, and they want the champions of the last Love Live to help promote the event. However, since Eli, Nozomi, and Nico will have graduated by then, the girls are unsure on how to respond to the news. The director of the school (Kotori's Mother) also received the email and an invitation from the US to make a show on School Idols in New York. When discussing this, she tells the girls that it would be good for the school if μ's went on this trip, and if they continued performing afterwards. Since they still have 3 months before the third grade students officially graduate, they decide to make a final Live Show.


Keep in mind, Love Live! School Idol Project is a slice of Life, so there is no big drama or action in this type of story, so most throughout this first half of the movie, there is not much to comment on when it comes to the general aspect. μ's arrive to New York, and tour around to find the perfect place to perform their last concert. The jokes are pretty funny and there are moments where the characters there is a sad mood and that's done pretty well as well. The transition between the "Happy-Jolly-Joke" feel and the "sad, moody" feel isn't awkward nor forced. Just like in life, there are moments were you feel happy and have fun, and others when you feel sad and down. There are 3 things I would like to comment about this half, however:

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1. The art in this movie is BEAUTIFUL and the attention to detail is INCREDIBLE. And the scenes in NYC prove it. Maybe because I know the place and I've been there, but New York City in the movie was EXACTLY the way it is in real life. Example: When in Times Square and in Broadway, there are signs and billboards all over the place (which is pretty common) but there is a parody of EVERY BROADWAY CLASSIC. Wicked, The Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, they were all there with their name and poster sign slightly changed. Another thing is that the subway entries were exactly the same, you could even see the Metro North logo on the side (that's how accurate).
2. There is a musical number (which is not the Live Show). In fact, throughout the movie, there are 6 musical numbers (hey, they have to sell their last album with this series, am I right?): 3 that pop out of nowhere, 2 live shows, and 1 concluding song. Personally, I didn't mind these. the 3 songs weren't bad, but not their best, the live shows were fun to watch and the last song was pretty good. It gives the feeling that this is a musical, but since 90% of the film is not musical numbers, sometimes when they break into song out of nowhere can be a little awkward.
3.There is a scene where Honoka gets lost when she took the wrong train. As she tries to find her way back to the hotel, she meets up with this street performer. The way Honoka was looking, caught the singer's attention. After she was done, she and Honoka started talking as she helped Honoka find her way back to the Hotel. Interestingly, the singer mentions that she was from Japan as well (coincidence much?), and when she was younger, she used to be in a group as well, but they had to eventually disband. Since Honoka could relate, she asked her what did she do afterwards, and the singer replied with "Why do you sing?" which of course Honoka get's thrown off by the question. She they arrive to the hotel, while Honoka is talking to her friends, the singer leaves her without saying a word. What's interesting is that this woman kind of resembles Honoka (but she is older) in personality, history and physical appearance. She was not seen by any other of the main characters but Honoka and she doesn't want to be seen. So, this leads me to believe that this singer was a personification of Honoka's mind/consciousness. However, she was seen by many people other than the main characters AND Honoka brought her microphone by accident. So the question is: Was this woman real or not? Was this a clever way to portray Honoka's thought and emotion through personification or just lazy writing that the writers used to say "f**k continuity"? I like to believe that is a clever personification, but watch the movie and judge for yourself.

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After their Live Show in New York, they return to Japan, only to find out that the live performance was aired all over Japan and thus, μ's became nationwide celebrities (don't worry, there is a musical number about that too). This is were the drama starts, basically. Because they are happy to receive this much attention because that means that they liked their work. And although they were very grateful, μ's HAD to disband. It was decided way before the movie, however the sudden rise of popularity and fans made the already tough decision even tougher. μ's was not just theirs anymore, so was the decision of finishing their career their decision anymore?  I believe this is a good conflict, although is simple. The idea of giving people what they want and expect against sticking to your ideals is a pretty tough choice to make (specially in this case, you enjoy doing it and are passionate about it, but you also get paid). After discussing the issue with the group, Eli, Nozomi, and Nico feel that despite what happened, they should still keep break up μ's, since they took a decision and they shouldn't back down, Maki, Hanayo and Rin feel the same way, however Honoka is the one responsible of making the final decision as the leader of the group. She meets up again with the mysterious singer from New York and have another talk. Although the singer doesn't give an answer, she helps Honoka find her answer.


Honoka discusses the issue with the group once more and decides that if μ's should leave, they should leave with a bang. Honoka suggests a Live concert  (like Love Live) made with the help of their rival group A-RISE and other school idols from all over Japan. The idea was to rise the popularity of School Idols and the Love Live! Festival, so that other girls would have to opportunity to have an experience like theirs. Despite them not having much time to put this together, they manage to contact the groups, get together, compose AND rehearse the song ALL the groups were going to sing together, choreograph, set up the stage, etc. (it's a movie, of course this plan was going to work!). The day before the big show, Honoka notices that a lot of girls were excited to perform with μ's. Honoka thinks is only fair to tell all of the participants what the future of μ's. All of the girls were really sad and their motivation really dropped after, but at the day of the show, EVEN MORE PARTICIPANTS SHOWED UP to give μ's a warm farewell. I didn't go too into detail but let me tell you that this moment was beautiful. It was truly heartwarming and it almost brought a tear to my eye. They do the Live Show, then they follow up with what happened after, followed by final closing number and roll credits!

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The audience ROARED, and I can see why. The movie was great! Not a masterpiece, but still a pretty good movie. The animation was really good, the songs were good, the attention to the background was amazing and I never thought they could top the ending of Season 2 or let alone make a good coherent story that wasn't too obvious on the fact that the only reason this movie was released was to make a few extra bucks. In fact, they probably made a better conclusion to the series than the ending to season 2. Maybe the reason it was made was to earn more money, but at least there was a lot of thought and effort put into this movie unlike the Naruto movie which just screamed "LAZY". This movie took everything that make the anime good and multiplied it! However, I do have my picks. Although I don't mind the songs, I do have to say, the ones that come out of nowhere like a musical are a little awkward at first. The first time it happened I was actually startled and thought "Oh! So, we're doing a musical now, I guess". Another thing is that the story is very "Honoka-centric" as you probably noticed. We have 9 main characters, but the movie only focuses on the thoughts, ideas, and feelings of 1. To make a better story, this works because there is only 1 psyche to worry about, and besides, it's not like it totally ignores the other members, they do have their moments and even though Honoka has the last word, the Eli, Rin, Maki, Hanayo, Umi, Nico, Nozomi, and Kotori are the ones who support her and/or confront her if needed. Though I do feel that is a waste to have 8 other characters which in the anime we did touch in their emotions and struggles not have their share of the drama in the movie. Honestly, I started to get tired of writing "Honoka" so many times (I felt like Bart Simpson during the opening of the show). However, I have to make something clear: This movie is a sequel and a conclusion to the anime. So this means you have to see the series before hand, which brings me to this point: you will not like the movie if you haven't seen or don't like Love Live! School Idol Project. The movie has a lot of in-jokes and and overall humor and style of the storytelling is exactly the same as in the anime. Therefore, this movie IS NOT A STAND ALONE MOVIE! Judging this movie without watching the anime would be like judging the last Harry Potter, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings movies without watching their respective prequels (in the case of Star Wars would be watching Episode VI without IV and V). With this said, I say, if you finished the anime, watch the movie, and if you haven't watch the anime, if you like slice of life
and J-pop, give both the anime and the movie a try.

Concert Night: 5Sos @ Nikon Theater (September 2nd, 2015)

"WE Won't let you leave until you've had the best night of your Life!"

These were the words of Michael Clifford on the night of September 2nd at the Nikon Theater in Jones Beach, and he, along with his band members, kept their promise. 5 Seconds of Summer was truly a show worth watching. My personal opinion: The Concert was GREAT. The band was ON POINT, the sound was amazing, and the Nikon Theater is just an awesome venue in it's own right. I liked the bands attitude, I could tell they were having fun, and they enjoyed what they did. In fact, 5Sos gave me a "Green Day Vibe" when they were on Stage. They did make me compare them to other bands because I saw a certain resemblance (maybe their influence shines through). The first thing that came to my Mind was "Wow, so this is what it must have felt to be at a Beatles Concert". Why? Well, I almost lost my hearing due to God Knows How many High school girls screaming frantically. When they played American Idiot, I made a kind of funny comparison. It almost seemed like if you grabbed Green Day and One Direction and put them in a blender you would get 5 Seconds of Summer. Their music, sound, lyrics, audience, and vocals just seemed like a combination of the 2. I know they hate comparisons, but it's just that it's hard not to see this once you've realized it. It's not bad, it's just funny how hard can influence shine through original content.

The "Green Day Vibe" is a reference to the band Green Day (obviously) and is when the relationship and interaction of the band and the audience is really strong, but also intimate, blurring that line of separation between the stage and the seats. Green Day is a band that seems that if there is something that they enjoy more than playing music is playing with the audience (in Costa Rica, that "playing with the audience got so literal that Green Day got a 3 people from the audience to play the drums, the bass and the guitar. They finished the song like this). 5 Seconds of Summer definitely gave that vibe. It ranged from the typical sing-a-long routine all the way to bringing a girl on stage, and making her playing guitar. She said she had NEVER played guitar at all and they still let her play, in fact, they encouraged her to play and have fun. The Set list was great, they played great songs and Opened up with "End Up Here" which it is a great song to start with. They played some songs they played were "Good Girls", "She's Kinda Hot", "Out of My Limit", "Rejects", "Amnesia" and 2 covers: "American Idiot" by Green Day and "What I Like About You" by The Romantics (Which, by the way, sounded awesome. I lost my voice in "What I like About You").

However, if I were to nitpick, I would say that on that concert, that was their greatest weakness. I have been to MANY concerts throughout my life, and this one was the one were the audience wasn't as active. I was surprised that the audience jumped, danced, and sang more at the BABYMETAL concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Just a little reminder, BABYMETAL sings in JAPANESE, and not English. I don't know if this was because 5Sos didn't know how to manage an audience or if the audience was too young and disinterested to get more involved. I know this sounds weird, but bare with me. I brought up my "Concert Maturity" because I feel that concerts have a certain "art" that need to be learned. Of course, different types of music have a different way of behaving at a concert (Nobody is going to do a Mosh Pit in an Orchestral concert). The thing is, the audience that attended this concert was either High School Girls or their parents (I was probably the only College Student there, let alone Single Man), so I feel that I could be that the girls were too "young" to really interact and the parents weren't invested enough because they either didn't enjoyed the band as much or didn't know enough about their music.

In the over all, it was a great show and I absolutely recommend to check it out if they are coming to your city or a city nearby. If you like that Punk Rock/Pop sound, I'd say it's worth it and definitely is a fun show to watch and be a part of.