SKE48 – Utsukushii Inazuma (Type-C) (a J!-ENT World Groove CD Single Review)

1. 美しい稲妻
2. シャララなカレンダー (SKE48 – Team E)
3. バンドをやろうよ (SKE48 – Selection 8)
4. 美しい稲妻 off vocal ver.
5. シャララなカレンダー off vocal ver.
6. バンドをやろうよ off vocal ver.

DVD INFO: 16:9LB, Region 2, Duration: 1:06:43

1. 美しい稲妻 music video
2. シャララなカレンダー music video
3. 「SKE48 チーム対抗!稲妻!ガチクッキングバトル」後編 (特典映像III)

SKE48, the sister idol group of AKB48 that is based in Nagoya returns with their 12th CD single “Utsukushii Inazuma” (which translates to “Beautiful Lightning”), a track which becomes the group’s eighth CD single to reach #1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and their second single to sell over 600,000 copies in its first week (first week total was 632,994, their last single “Choco no Dorei sold 671,623 copies).

The single will feature new changes with the group as Mina Oba of AKB48 will now be part of Team KII and with the nine graduations earlier this year, the group has now promoted nine kenkyuusei members to the team. And now Yuka Nakanishi will become the Captain of SKE48 and Team S, Akane Takayanagi as captain of Team KII and Rena Matsui as captain of Team E.

With “Utsukushii Inazuma”, a total of four CD single versions were released. TYPE-A, TYPE-B and TYPE-C (Note: Limited and regular edition of all three types have different covers) will include a DVD. The theater edition comes with the main title track, an exclusive Kenkyuusei track and a SKE48 12th Single Medley. Also, it does not come with a DVD.

The version I will be reviewing is “Utsukushii Inazuma” (Type-C). The CD insert is a tri-fold featuring Kanon Kimoto on the cover. When opened up, all 16 members are featured on one side, while lyrics and production credits are featured on the other side. Reverse cover on the back features a photo of Team E.

The first track on the single is “Utsukushii Inazuma” (which translates to “Beautiful Lightning”) and the sound is upbeat pop but with a sense of maturity when compared to “Kiss Datte Hidarikiki” and also “Choco no Dorei”. While I do like the beats, immediately I felt it was a song that would showcase strong choreography but also wondered if fans would miss their sweet idol pop style of music.

The summer track is about loving someone and struck by a beautiful lightning, struck by love and on the beach the heightening of emotions to be close to that person you love.

The second track is titled “Shalala na Calender”  and is a cute, upbeat idol pop track from Team E.  The song is about a girl who can’t wait for an upcoming date.  With one week left, she can only daydream of how her first date will be.

The third track is titled “Band wo Yarou Yo” (which translates to “Let’s Make a Band”) performed by SKE48’s Magical Band, a band that is on the TV show “SKE48 no Magical Radio 3”.  The song was among the catchy songs of this last season and it still featured AKB48’s Rie Kitahara and several members that have since graduated from SKE48.  But the song is rather catchy, pop rock and an enjoyable track to have on the album!

The song is about a group of friends wanting to make a band and everyone getting their instruments and firing up the audience, even if it’s air guitar for now, one day people can see them with their real love and real instruments.

The remainder of the three tracks are the instrumental versions of the first three vocal tracks.

As for the DVD, the DVD begins with the music video of “Utsukushii Inazume” and focuses on SKE48 performing dancing on the beach, while guys are playing with fire in the background. The girls are looking sexy as they role in the sand or are in the ocean. I actually love the close-ups for this video, definitely great in showcasing the members eyes. The choreography was very cool and I have to admit that the music video made me enjoy the music video much more.

The second music video is for “Shalala na Calendar” performed by SKE48’s Team E. The video begins with a Kanon Kimoto reading a book in the library and immediately turns all the boring bookworms into a lively pop group and everyone performs inside the library.

The third and final video on the DVD features part 3 of the SKE48 “SKE48 Team Taikou! Inazuma! Gachi Cooking Battle” which is about 48 minutes long.  Who will win?  Team S, Team KII, Team E or Team Kenkyuusei?

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.

“Utsukushii Inazuma” (Type-C) is a pretty cool CD+DVD and I felt the Team E song was cute, while the addition of the Magical Band track “Band wo Yarou” was a good addition.

With that being said, the DVD content included with “Utsukushii Inazuma” was fun to watch. The Team E music video for “Shalala na Calendar” was cute but as for DVD content, those who have purchased Type-A and Type-B will surely want this third DVD for the remaining “SKE48 Gachi no Cooking Battle” content.

Overall, “Utsukushii Inazuma” (Type-C) is a solid CD+DVD single from SKE48 and I have to admit that I probably am listening to “Band wo Yarou” much more than the title track but for an SKE48 CD+DVD, it’s a solid release overall but when compared to previous releases, it’s very good, just not great.

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