AKB48 – Eien Pressure (Type-A) (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

1. 永遠プレッシャー – (AKB48)
2. とっておきクリスマス – (AKB48)
3. 強がり時計 – (SKE48)
4. 永遠プレッシャー off vocal ver.
5. とっておきクリスマス off vocal ver.
6. 強がり時計 off vocal ver.

DVD INFO: 16:9 LB, Region 2, Duration: 46:27

1. 永遠プレッシャー Music Video
2. とっておきクリスマス Music Video
3. 永遠より続くように Music Video
4. チームB推し Music Video
5. 29thシングル選抜じゃんけん大会ドキュメント(前編)

In September 2012, the third AKB48 Janken Taikai (rock-paper-scissors) tournament was held and the victor was Team 4 member Haruka “Paruru” Shimazaki.

For those not familiar of why AKB48 holds the tournament, the reason is because while AKB48 holds a Senbatsu Election and fans can vote for who is their popular member and will eventually lead to who would become the main center performer and the primary performers for an upcoming CD single, fans felt it was not fair for the other members who aren’t as popular, as they would never have a chance to be on a major single release.

So, to help solve that problem, the Janken Taikai tournament was created in which the top 16 members who do well in the tournament can perform the main track for the final single of the year. And the single has led to AKB48 members such Mayumi Uchida (unranked) and Mariko Shinoda (who is ranked but never center) a chance to become the main center. And for 2012, Haruka Shimazaki, who was ranked #23 in this year’s Senbatsu elections, came first in the Janken Taikai tournament, insuring her as the center (Ace) for AKB48’s 29th CD single track “Eien Pressure” (which translates to “Eternal Pressure”).

And once again, AKB48 had sold over a million copies with their latest single. First day sales were 840,043 but four days later, the group would eventually sell over a million copies and continue with their solid footing in the #1 position for two weeks straight and the single staying within the top 5 or top 10 by the end of the year.

“Eien Pressure” was released in five different versions. TYPE-A, TYPE-B and TYPE-C would feature an exclusive third track by SKE48, NMB48 or HKT48, each with a DVD featuring music videos plus each type containing one of three parts of the 29th Single Janken Takai tournament documentary (so, if you want to watch the complete documentary, you would need to purchase all three types). The fourth version would be the theater edition with no DVD but the single would come with an exclusive third track.  And also, a fifth TYPE-D version which is a release that is born from Fuji TV’s “Mecha Mecha Iketeru!” hosted by comedy duo Ninety-Nine (Takashi Okamura and Hiroyuki Abe) featuring Okamura and AKB48 members in lemon head outfits and would be known as OKL48 and feature their song and music video “Eien Yori Tsuzuku Yo Ni”.

The version of “Eien Pressure” that I am reviewing is TYPE-A. This is probably the first AKB48 single that I have seen packaged in a special way.  Included is a plastic cover with a large double side obi featuring the top 16 Janken Taikai members on the front and in rear are Natsumi Matsubara, Ami Maeda, Ayaka Umeda, Kanon Kimoto, Kasumi Ueno and Chisato Nakata.  The packaging is quite unique, but the best way to explain that is through the following photos:

Included also is a five fold insert with the lyrics and production credits.  The cover does include two CD’s sleeves to protect the CD’s from scratches but this is probably the first time I have seen a CD single packaged this way, but it’s pretty cool!

As for the CD single, the first track is “Eien Pressure” and features Haruka Shimazaki, Moeno Nito, Yui Yokoyama, Mayumi Uchida, Mariko Nakamura, Maria Abe, Mariko Shinoda, Miyu Takeuchi, Natsumi Matsubara, Yuki Kashiwagi, Kasumi Ueno, Chisato Nakata, Ami Maeda, Ayaka Umeda, Kanon Kimoto and Tomomi Itano.

The single is a sweet, upbeat track sung by the 2012 Janken Taikai and it’s an upbeat, cute song that I enjoy because of its lyrics. The song is about a person who does not want to become the girl of one’s dreams, because of the pressure. And when the guy confessed that he liked the girl, the girl is wondering why did the guy choose her? She doesn’t like to be watched by people because of the pressure. And she tells the guy to not expect too much from her (due to the pressure), she will be useless like she is now. And she hopes the guy doesn’t compare her to other girls. She’s weird, doesn’t have many skills and feels that love is eternal pressure.

The second track is the annual AKB48 Christmas track titled “Totteoki Christmas” (which translates to Prized Possession for Christmas). The Christmas song has the Christmas style background with the bells and arrangement. An upbeat, pop track with a constant beat, “Totteoki Christmas” is a song about how a girl wants to be the most important thing on Christmas night. To be the prized possession for Christmas. And she came to a location where there are Christmas lights all around, snow falling with a Christmas tree near the station. As she looks around,s he sees families and people with their loved one. And this person wanting the Christmas night to be the #1 special night of the year.

The third track on the single is “Tsuyogari Tokei” (which translates to “The clock of courage”) performed by SKE48.  The upbeat ballad starts of with a gentle piano intro and transitions to electric guitar and beats.    The song is actually one of the better songs I have heard from SKE48 and an emotional song about regret (possibly after a breakup).  The track is about a person who regrets not showing her feeling to a person.  Now that it is snowing and cold, she feels that she will be buried by grief.  She wants to stop the weak clock that leads to her determined feeling to collapse and wants it to stop.

The next three tracks on the CD single are the instrumental off vocal tracks of the first three songs.

As for the DVD, “Eien Pressure” gets a 11 minute music video and features Paruru arriving to a hotel with her luggage. She gets to meet the other people in the hotel and how some people behave unusually. But as the other people in the hotel check out the new person, meanwhile Yukirin is stalking Yui in the shower. Late at night while Paruru is eating an apple on the ledge, she sees Tomochin slipping out at night and going out on a date. Meanwhile, Paruru is introduced to Mariko who tells her that she must go out and pick certain flowers near the mountain. This discussion leads to Paruru having a discussion of being the center. And the video transitions to the janken top 16 performing “Eien Pressure” and Paruru going out towards the mountain on her own. Meanwhile, Kanon is revealed to be a witch and she secretly uses her crystal ball to change the directions on Paruru and lead her to the wrong direction, which leads to Paruru falling off a cliff. As Kanon tries to disguise herself as Mariko Shinoda, Paruru discovers Kanon’s trick and shoots her back with lightning. And while Moeno worries about Paruru, Paruru comes back to the hotel and everyone cheers for her.

The second music video is for “Totteoki Christmas” and the video features members of AKB48 in red dresses performing in front of a Christmas tree and on the snow, while bokeh illumination are in the background. The main storyline is Yuko arriving to a location where she sees people celebrating Christmas. She watches as everyone is having fun. Families and couples start to leave the area and as each of them leave and go home, Yuko is the last one there waiting to see if the guy she likes (or boyfriend) will arrive.

The third music video features SKE48’s “Tsuyogari Tokei” and we see Jurina Matsui crying while she’s eating and listening to other girls talk, Rie Kitahara is shown sad when seeing a guy she likes with another girl, we see Rena Matsui fighting with her boyfriend and getting slapped.  Then we see the members performing the song on stair steps with clips of the three girls breaking down and crying.  Definitely one of the most emotional SKE48 videos I have seen and well-produced and possibly the most emotional, dramatic scene I have seen of Rie.

The fourth music video is “Team B Oshi” performed by AKB48’s Team B.  The following video was voted by fans as part of the “Music Video Request 2012”.  A fun and hilarious video which I enjoyed a lot as the members are featured in different costumes.  And the whole cuteness of the video fits with Team B’s image. The video also features Mayu Watanabe, who has since moved to Team A.

The fifth and final video is the first part of the “29th CD single Janken Taikai documentary”.  The first part features interviews members of AKB48 prior to the competition and the first round competitions.