AKB48 – Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono (Type-H) (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

1. 鈴懸の木の道で「君の微笑みを夢に見る」と言ってしまったら僕たちの関係はどう変わってしまうのか、僕なりに何日か考えた上でのやや気恥ずかしい結論のようなもの
2. Mosh & Dive – AKB48
3. ウインクは3回 – HKT48
4. 鈴懸の木の道で「君の微笑みを夢に見る」と言ってしまったら僕たちの関係はどう変わってしまうのか、僕なりに何日か考えた上でのやや気恥ずかしい結論のようなもの off vocal ver.
5. Mosh & Dive off vocal ver.
6. ウインクは3回 off vocal ver.

DVD INFO: 16:9 LB, Region 2, Duration: 42:56

1. 鈴懸の木の道で「君の微笑みを夢に見る」と言ってしまったら僕たちの関係はどう変わってしまうのか、僕なりに何日か考えた上でのやや気恥ずかしい結論のようなもの – Music Video – Short Film ver.-
2. 鈴懸の木の道で「君の微笑みを夢に見る」と言ってしまったら僕たちの関係はどう変わってしまうのか、僕なりに何日か考えた上でのやや気恥ずかしい結論のようなもの – Music Video
3. Mosh & Dive Music Video
4. ウインクは3回 Music Video
5. LOVE修行 Music Video

As with most AKB48 end of the year singles, their 34th single titled “Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono” (which translates to “Sort of a little bit embarrassing conclusion I came up to after thinking for days about how our relationship would change if while walking along a road of plane trees I said to you, ‘I dream of your smile'”) is a janken single and the longest title for a Japanese CD single release.

Back in September, the fourth AKB48 Janken Taikai (rock-paper-scissors tournament) took place and in the end, SKE48 and AKB48 member, Jurina Matsui won the tournament and became the next center for the 34th single. Beating NMB48’s Emika Kamieda but also giving other AKBG girls a chance to shine, such as Rina Hirata, Mina Oba, Wakana Natori, Ayaka Kikuchi, Yuuka Tano, Maria Abe, Nao Furuhata, Rie Kitahara, Mizuki Tsuchiyasu, Reina Fujie, Yukari Sasaki, Ami Yumoto and Shizuka Oya.

And with this 34th single which continued AKB48’s streak of over a million copies sold (1,033,336 copies were sold in its first week), following the tradition set with “Heart Ereki”, there will be a total of four CD+DVD releases and one theater release.

The version I will be reviewing is Type-H featuring Jurina Matsui on the cover and comes with a 12-page booklet which includes lyrics, production credits and photos of each member in group or solo.

The single kicks off with “Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono”.

My first impressions of the song is that it’s one of the more catchier janken songs, much better than “Eien Pressure” and “Chance no Junban” and love the catchy arrangement and vocals for this track! The song is about dreaming of one’s smile and wondering why you can’t stop thinking about that person’s smile. And knowing that person while you were very young and how that person was like a little sister, but now that the person has grown up, you see them much differently.

The second track is “Mosh & Dive”, an upbeat dance track from AKB48 and is a very catch song and one that could have easily been a single and would have done that well. It’s that good! The song is about liking a superstar and that star is surrounded by groupies. And 1! 2! 3! the person will mosh and dive, to get closer and let that person know you love them.

The third track is titled “Wink wa 3-Kai” (which translates to “Wink 3 times”) and is performed by HKT48 and is a sweet, upbeat idol pop track and is a very humorous and fun song!

The song is about how one wants to communicate their love to someone by winking three times and how the winks is a whisper of saying “I love you”.  And with so many girls vying for that guys attention, she needs to take the chance by giving the person she likes, the three winks as one time is not enough, four is too many and three is a perfect confession.

The remaining three tracks are the instrumental versions of the first three songs.

As for the DVD, the DVD begins with the short film version of “Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono”.

The film version begins with a group of students burying a time capsule and then everyone reuniting for their reunion. But some people are uncomfortable as their lives have not taken off like they have hoped and some just waiting for that special opportunity. But for everyone to reunite, everyone has a chance to discuss their lives and then Jurina trying to break the tension, starts singing a song which everyone joins in. And then the music video kicks off with the girls dancing to the song and we see the pop version of the group and their teenage high school version singing and learning to dance to the song.

The second video is the music video for “”Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono” and removes the dramatic portion of the film version.

The third video track is for “Mosh & Dive”, an awesome upbeat dance track with AKB48 sporting vinyl, singing and dancing and for the most part, what I enjoyed about this video is seeing many of the members of the various teams together for this one track. All sporting red and black vinyl. It’s a cute and sexy music video!

The fourth video track is for “Wink wa 3-Kai” performed by HKT48. The video is hilarious as we see HKT48 Kenkyuusei Kanna Okada as the center of the song but what is so fun is seeing all the HKT48 members giving guys a wink and the guys fainting.  It’s a fun, upbeat HKT48 track!

The fifth music video for “LOVE Shugyou”, a music video shot earlier this year and is performed by the AKB48 Kenkyuusei. The song was originally included in the AKB48 31st single “Sayonara Crawl” theater edition (which doesn’t come with a DVD), so the music video was included on the Type-H version and features the group

It’s important to note that this is a region 2 DVD and will not play on a region 1 player (unless you have a non-region DVD player) but can be played on a MAC or PC using free video playing software such as VLC or Daum PotPlayer.

Overall, “Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono” (Type-A) is fun CD+DVD and a version that you want to get if you are a fan of HKT48 and the Kenkyuusei from earlier this year.

Of the four various CD+DVD types for “”Suzukake no Ki no Michi de ‘Kimi no Hohoemi o Yume ni Miru’ to Itte Shimattara Bokutachi no Kankei wa Dō Kawatte Shimau no ka, Bokunari ni Nan-nichi ka Kangaeta Ue de no Yaya Kihazukashii Ketsuron no Yō na Mono”, of the sister groups featured, HKT48 has the best music video and one you will want to watch over and over because it’s so fun and hilarious.  But of course, Type-N and Type-S has the Janken video footage and thus is over an hour long.  But still a 34th single worth owning if you are an AKB48, HKT48 and Kenkyuusei fan!