From the slow, boring intro track to the lazy Laser Beam album mix, all the way to the indistinguishable MY COLOR/Kokoro no Sports songs and the horrific abomination that is Toki no Hari in all its infantile simplicity (what happened to Take me Take me? Kiss and Music? why do we get Perfume the kindergarten trio on their third studio album?), JPN is a godawful mess and I hated every minute of listening to it. The only two new tracks to bring me any sort of joy were the GLITTER album mix and Have a Stroll; the former for its ambitious beginning and the latter for being the only thing that even remotely sounds like the Perfume I knew and loved.

That’s 2/7 new tracks (this is counting The Opening, not counting the bizarre minute edits in Fushizen na Girl). I’ve never had a Perfume album I loathed so intensely — moreover, I’ve never had a Nakata production I’ve loathed so intensely, not since Kyarypamyupamyu’s debut earlier this year. So maybe it’s the fact that it’s Perfume, the three girls who were the principle catalysts for bringing me into this genre and this community of artists and fans that I’ve grown so fond of, that strikes such a nerve and makes me this irritated and let down? Or, really, it’s the fact that it’s Nakata? But even that I can explain away by using Tokuma as a scapegoat. After all, there’s no way the same person who created Secret Secret and thought it was good then would go on to create Kokoro no Sports and find it similarly a decent song, right?

I should just stop my commentary of JPN at “it’s a horrible album” and spend as much time discussing the intricacies and semantics as Nakata spent on producing this work: none at all.

Yeah, I knew this was going to happen. I have very little time to devote to writing high quality blog posts due to life, which is why this place has been dormant for a little over two months now. I’m still paying attention and hoping to find time to spare to complete/refine some of my drafts that have been sitting around.

Just…in case any of the three people interested in this blog are interested.

(Also, R.I.P. Steve Jobs.)

I’d like to say that of all Nakata’s produced artists, Kyarypamyupamyu may be the most difficult to digest. We first heard of her back in May this year, when she and two other models hosted her Nico Nico live show and debuted capsule’s WORLD OF FANTASY album the night before the release date. After that, I could have easily forgotten her existence — except for an announcement in early June about her eventual debut mini-album Moshimoshi Harajuku, produced by none other than Nakata Yasutaka.

My feelings about her were initially rather malevolent. It’s nothing to really go into about, especially since I’ve more than gotten over all of it, but I had a strong disdain for her. On the surface she was a generic, immature, and underage gyaru-style model who completely broke the mold (in a bad way) when it comes to Nakata products. The last time he worked with a standard fashion model was Ichikawa Nagisa for 2004′s NAGISA COSMETIC, which proved to be a one-time deal. Since then, he has established himself as a producer who works with…more accomplished persons of the fashion industry, I guess you could say. 2006-2007 saw him as a unit with designer Sakai Kate in COLTEMONIKHA; starting in 2007 and until 2010, he produced a few albums for singer MEG who has ties to the fashion industry being a designer and model. Both women had interesting ideas in their approach to fashion and their images and music reflected those.

Then here comes Kyary. Bizarre 18-year-old Kyary, a barely well-known model mostly featured in fashion magazines KERA and Zipper, who got her start after popping up in the former’s Tokyo street fashion snap in fall of 2009 and becoming a regular shortly thereafter. Prior to this she had a stint as a U-14 model, which I’m no stranger to Japan’s enchanting world of photographing young girls in swimwear but that still elicits an “eww” response from me. Completing my belief that Kyary was an annoying high school girl with no place on the list of Nakata’s produced artists is the fact that almost all of her fans up to this point have only been shallowly interested in her for her cute appearance and her hengao gimmick (because, you know, contorting your facial features into a strange and comical expression is totally novel). None of her fans have questioned her hometown, real name, birthday, or her other interests… Nothing. It’s a little disappointing to see so many people anxiously awaiting her debut as a music artist but have an outstanding lack of curiosity as to who she is, when all I’ve wanted since the announcement was details about who she is to help me understand why Nakata would opt to exert creativity and time on such a random girl who can’t even sing very well — and I’m the one who hated her at first.

Kyary was born Takemura Kiriko on January 29th, 1993 in Tokyo. She didn’t develop a real interest in fashion until her second year of high school, and also purportedly ran away from home to Harajuku at some point because her parents were against her decision to pursue fashion modeling. She’s a fan of Nakata’s work and likely met him at one of the all-ages shows that he’s recently began DJing at — Kyary herself has taken up DJing and works under ASOBISYSTEM. Her other hobbies apparently involve Internet stalking and “collecting the umbilical cords of ikemen [good-looking men]“, showcasing her quirky sense of humor that stretches beyond her penchant for silly faces. In an interview with Time Out Tokyo, it was said that she wrote on her blog that she wants to bring about a revolution in the fashion industry and also is interested in globalizing Harajuku fashion, which explains her signing to the unBORDE label (they have a focus on marketing their artists internationally; MEG is a fellow labelmate).

Last week I sat in on a full episode of her Nico Nico Douga live show anticipating from news released earlier that day that she would be presenting the full PV of PONPONPON. It…actually ended up being an approximately 34-minute show of her sitting before a minuscule audience of her fashion-oriented peers and tasting bizarre/gross things with shaved ice and reacting to it. We got a 30sec preview of the PV towards the conclusion of the stream. Not exactly quality entertainment, but I did notice that she seemed rather subdued — almost to a fault, she felt standoffish at times — and not the loud overacting kid I thought she would be. I haven’t bothered to watch her older shows and I don’t think I care enough to do so, but if that one instance was indicative enough of her usual demeanor, I find her even more favorable.

It’s not like any of the intricate details about her life are particularly exciting or different, but they’ve softened me to her. In my mind, she’s become less the typical annoying model with a dumb gimmick and more of a unique presence. I can’t say if I’ll ever completely love her, though: charmingly avant-garde as her concept is, she’s still firmly rooted in a look I’ve never been that fond of and the lyrics to her debut single PONPONPON are actually very generic and tame once you get past her unusual lingo (it hasn’t been officially stated whether or not she’s handling her own lyrics on her mini-album, but I pray to god she is, because the last thing I want is Nakata being responsible for them). My feelings on Kyary are likely going to remain mixed, and part of me still hopes she’s going to be a one-time deal like Nagisa was seven years before her.

To end on a silly note befitting of Kyary: I haven’t seen anyone else with this idea, but I tend to consider her like Nakata and Koshijima Toshiko’s lovechild rather than as Nakata’s underage sexual conquest. She typically has blonde hair like them, she works in/enjoys fashion, she wears heavy makeup, and as I said before her personality strikes me as rather reserved and possibly similar to Nakata’s in some regards — she even somewhat resembles him, at least in my opinion. It’s a ridiculous perception that I’ve created in an attempt to grow somewhat fond of her, but I feel like I need to do this with every person Nakata works with. It’s like an odd way of welcoming her.

When Nakata Yasutaka is being asked to adapt fifteen seconds of audio into a full song for the sake of a single with a commercial tie-in, I think it’s time to reevaluate how big of a role the music has in making Perfume what they are.

Laser Beam / Kasuka na Kaori is perhaps the epitome of Perfume “selling out”. Although it isn’t the first single release to have both songs used in commercials (love the world holds this distinction), its whole conception was based around the initial 15-second sample of Laser Beam that we heard as far back as January this year in a CM for brand Kirin’s Hyouketsu series of beer. What I’m basically saying is, Perfume’s producer was asked to only do enough music to fill a short CM spot, and was later asked to turn this into a whole song. I wish I could say that’s something Nakata could easily do, given his innate talent with composing, but… The final product leads me to think that it was no such thing. The instrumental doesn’t go anywhere nor does it do anything particularly innovative or interesting — the song opens with a short intro that moves into the chorus, which is the exact 15sec sample we already knew, then the remainder of the track goes verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus; the break is also very short and sounds like something you’d hear in a DJ set, as it builds up through increasing repetitions of a solitary beat. To make the release seem even more unnecessary, filming for the PV had to be cut short due to the Tohoku earthquake and Tokuma instead put out a short version, knowing that Perfume fans would eat it up regardless. Finally, the cherry on top of all of this is that its second A-side, Kasuka na Kaori, was later picked up by Kirin as yet another CM jingle and the song was summarily given two PV releases…except it’s the same music video, save for the second being a “special widescreen” edition that was really just turned sideways.

As an idol group that pulled me in with the fantastic music production behind them, I find it increasingly difficult to accept Perfume’s direction post-2008. In my opinion, it all started with the release of One Room Disco: there we have an admittedly safe and very pop-oriented instrumental and song. Lyrically I enjoy it, as it addresses the notion of someone moving out into the world on their own — a far cry from Laser Beam’s refurbished lyrics, which in one verse appear to be inspired by Kirin Hyouketsu’s fruity flavor (When ripe fruit gathers water droplets / It resembles sparkling lights) — yet it otherwise struck me as notoriously poppy compared to their past tracks. This is the point where I began to realize that Perfume were never electronic musicians to begin with, but that isn’t exactly the most shocking revelation to make, especially this late in the game.

To recap, Nakata picked Perfume up in 2003 when his pet project capsule was still relatively in its infancy. He immediately decided that Perfume’s genre would be more pico-pop than the boring pop fare they had courtesy of Pappara Kawai. During their indies era, Perfume put out songs that were decidedly idol pop with electronic stylings — and thus was their gimmick. As the girls matured, their sound did as well: they graduated from cutesy and simple melodies to elevated beats and somewhat complex choreography that helped distinguish them from their idol contemporaries. Kinoko’s songwriting was already different from your typical idol music (with such lines as Ah, verbal abuse / Will it disappear some day? in Vitamin Drop catching me rather off-guard; not to mention the complete incoherent trip that is Linear Motor Girl), but Nakata’s decision to begin writing their lyrics gave an additional dimension to their works. So why, then, have we been made witness to such a sudden decline in overall quality when we were already treated to the intriguing existential verses and forceful dance kicks of 2006′s Electro World? We go from Everything I can see, everything I can touch, too / has no reality / but surely I exist to Nee’s Hey, hey, hey, hey / Where are we going today?, and that to me represents a “dumbing down” of Perfume.

Was something like this meant to happen? The key to achieving success as an idol has less to do with moving lyricism and more with advertising and exposure. If the songs are catchy, companies will want them alongside their products in commercials; if the singers of those songs are popular, they will inadvertently lend their notoriety to the product being sold. I’ve seen this firsthand in the Western Perfume fan community with people proudly declaring their desire to try the Kirin beer that Perfume have spent the greater half of 2011 promoting. They’d probably have less of an interest if it weren’t for their favorite artists being intertwined with the product. Meanwhile, Perfume reaps benefits from their voices and faces being seen in commercials that are viewed by thousands of Japanese citizens on TV everyday, which yield higher sales and therefore higher revenue. In an interview with Japan Times earlier this year, Nakata explains that “with Perfume, before I even start work on a song, it is already assigned to a certain commercial, so it’s all about getting a single idea or hook that stands out”. Perfume have seemingly transformed into a relentless advertising vehicle, to the chagrin of a decent-sized portion of their fanbase. In the singles since One Room Disco, 75% of the songs were tied to a marketing campaign — and of course, Perfume are more successful now than they’ve ever been. But this simplistic approach to their music does few favors to their fans.

Then again, perhaps Perfume’s pop music direction has little to do with the advertising and Nakata’s new production philosophy. Rather, it’s reflective of the members themselves. In the many interviews and profiles I’ve read of Perfume over the past four years, one tiny factoid sticks in my mind: their nearly mutual reverence of the girl group SPEED. Wildly popular in the late 90s and early 2000s, SPEED’s style was much in the vein of (at that time) contemporary R&B and pop musicians. Their choreography was hip-hop in nature and they actually sang very well and with plenty of emotion. Contrast that with Perfume, and you begin to see conflict. Perfume never explicitly aimed for the electro-pop genre — it was uncharted territory and a type of music that their producer could pull off. They stated in a 2007 interview with Livedoor that they had never heard of or been exposed to the electronic/techno genre prior to the start of their work with Nakata. Compounding this are the girls’ individual interests in music: Nocchi has always given the impression of someone who is laidback and can enjoy anything, and as such her music leanings tend to be more in the hip-hop/rap and rock categories, yet she grew up idolizing SPEED; A~chan is another big SPEED fan and seems to be into artists that have a higher emphasis on vocal ability (i.e., more of an acoustic type); finally, we have Kashiyuka, who is evidently the only member of Perfume that actively listens to electro house and techno. A~chan spoke for the group in a 2008 edition of BOMB magazine when she said, “Well, we have just gotten to the point where we got to like techno music. But we are on the level that we ‘like’ it, and we don’t know the depth of it beyond that. I don’t think it is good to go to the next step without learning anything. So I want to know techno to the full first. It may be hard but I want to try at least.”

We also must consider that, at the time of that Livedoor interview, they were leaving the majority of the production process up to Nakata’s fancies. Since then, he’s purportedly invited them to have a larger say in their own work — something rare for idols. He presented them with two versions of Natural ni Koishite (one with a higher BPM than the other) and the girls chose the slower version, and A~chan rallied earlier this year about wanting to actually write lyrics for a change. In an interview with ORICON STYLE, Perfume discusses how they requested a song similar to edge from Nakata, which is unusual given how I characterize their music interests but supposedly they wanted that variety of dance song to get their fans pumped up at the 2010 summer music festivals. Most consider FAKE IT’s existence to be a sign of Nakata attempting to answer the girls’ prayers — however, it came too late to be used in summer festivals an it also wasn’t necessarily a dance song. FAKE IT, much like One Room Disco, opens with a loud and attention-grabbing sound suited to the dancefloor then quickly transitions into a “safer” and poppier tune. Taken as a whole, it’s a disappointment for fans of a harder electronic style.

Perhaps Perfume is changing because of the advertisements, or perhaps of their own accord (though the latter argument is nowhere near as strong). Or maybe it’s because they’ve become well-known? love the world remains their best-selling single, and the A-side is a very cute and pop-oriented song. Compounding this is how the girls’ management and record label both seem to be ambitiously chasing their current fame with a commercial tie-in on every new single, and even on each album. So surely they would give Japan the kind of Perfume it wants: in Oricon’s list of highest-selling Perfume singles, the barely electro VOICE comes in at #2, followed by Laser Beam / Kasuka na Kaori as of this writing; more conflicting is a popularity ranking from Goo that puts Polyrhythm as their most popular singles song, followed by One Room Disco, Nee, VOICE, and Natural ni Koishite. Disregarding Polyrhythm, all of Perfume’s more favored songs are significantly heavier on the pop side of electro-pop. Tokuma never wanted the original Polyrhythm, as they believed it would be scorned by the general public for its repetitive polyrhythmic break, but with a struggling idol group burdening their label and Nakata’s insistence that the A-side be kept intact they relented and inadvertently propelled Perfume to stardom. Since it was considered a risky move to begin with, no wonder Tokuma may not want any more bizarre dance music that could endanger Perfume’s rising popularity as idols.

Overall, it’s highly likely that we owe Perfume’s string of uninspiring pop hits to advertisement mayhem and their wonderfully antagonistic record label. There’s really no point to saying this, though — it won’t make anything different. I don’t expect Perfume to stop doing endorsements, given that it’s pivotal to competing in Japan’s flighty consumer market, and it doesn’t appear that they will with news of GLITTER breaking just the other day. I wish that there could be more campaigns based on a Perfume song and less Perfume songs based on a campaign (to mirror the words of a fellow fan). However, even with that flipped approach, who’s to say Tokuma won’t have the final word and render whatever halfway-decent track Nakata puts out into a bland commercial-friendly affair? The days of edge are over: the last place you can expect to hear something as exciting and danceable is in a medley or interlude at a Perfume concert.

At least I have a reversed version of Laser Beam. Somehow, it manages to be infinitely more interesting than the actual song…

To be entirely honest, I’m not the biggest Saori fan under the sun. Her lyrical content can at times be too grim and dark for my still slightly idol-tinged music palate. So what attracted me to review this? I really can’t say. Maybe I’m giving her a second chance after the depression trip that her full-length album WORLD WILD 2010 was; maybe I’m genuinely curious to hear how she’s evolved in this release. Or maybe it’s because I dig the off-putting and messy cover art — which is an outright lie, but I digress. Either way, this is certainly a solid mini-album, if not a bit disappointing and burdened with a flawed track order that clocks in at just seven songs.

The album opens with BEATBOP‘s attention-grabbing trumpet that fades out into a drum rhythm that hearkens me to the famously oversampled break from The Winstons’ Amen Brother. Saori quickly enters the sonic landscape to deliver the entirely nonsensical lyrical content of this intro, and is interrupted briefly for a full instance of highly pitched stock vocals that continue to pervade the track here and there. BEATBOP can best be summed up as a wild sample party and with such memorable gems as One and two and three and four and / Shake me, shake me, shake me, shake me / Bomb, bomb, bang, bang! and Dump it, your true colors / Gravy, ravey, ravey, laid, it is sure to stick in your mind.

It is in the title track Domestic domain that we see the tracklisting problems early-on. Going from such an offbeat intro to a very “safe” and almost Perfume-esque full song is enough to throw off the previous groove and vibe that BEATBOP laid down. Following a very basic compositional structure and average poppy electronic beats, Domestic domain’s one idiosyncrasy is its set of stock voices in the background and its decently repetitive break. Although disappointing from a music standpoint, it stands out lyrically as Saori’s songs are wont to do. It opens addressing God (God, ah, your voice, answer me / I’ll stay alive — what can I give to you?) and continues to hint at a pre-existing connection to some vague individual (You smiling is my domestic domain / If you could come there with me, I’d be happy) and, towards, the end, throws out a nugget of philosophical wealth in the form of the line Because we aren’t strong, we can love. For what sounds on a surface to be a generic electropop track, Domestic domain gives us intrigue and food for thought.

And we go directly from the softness of Domestic domain to another loud and anthem-like song, GAMBA JAPAN. Opening with a soaring wobbly bass typical of the dubstep genre and full of whistles, it wakes you up in the most abrupt of ways, like lifting your entire mattress and dropping you onto the dance floor. Saori’s vocals here feel almost at odds with the heavy bass and occasionally I feel like I lose her voice in the intensity of the music. In the middle of the track we have some respite with a tribal-influenced break that reminds me of her 2010 studio album WORLD WILD 2010. Interestingly, the lyrics here seem to be inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that happened earlier this year (and on my birthday, no less), most clearly demonstrated in the line In a reality like this, now we’re sharing the world / It’s a tragedy that pains our hearts, but we’re alive in this emergency. Overall, though, GAMBA JAPAN is an encouraging dedication to the natural disaster: Let’s take each other’s hands, all my friends / And strengthen our bonds, come on — ABCD.

The compositional credits on GAMBA JAPAN are split up between Alex Funk-it, which is one of Terukado’s previously-established pseudonyms, and TO-WEST. This is for good reason — GAMBA JAPAN flows directly and masterfully into COLLAGE, a very welcome surprise (I love albums with flow; RAM RIDER’s 2005 album PORTABLE DISCO is a perfect example) courtesy of TO-WEST who handles the track. I honestly can’t just start COLLAGE up cold, I have to have that GAMBA JAPAN build-up. As a track, COLLAGE is very stagnant with a repeating but extremely catchy rhythm, and complements Saori’s vocals nicely. It enters a lengthy break somewhere around the 2:15 mark, which could potentially become annoying for some, but comes back with a funkier groove and more of the same lyrics and beat. Speaking of lyrics, they’re slightly eerie in their poetic nature: Beyond the dance, my drooping feelings / Dance to the end, my celebration / Feverish dance, my rising feelings / New world dance, my celebration. Although I normally criticize songs that don’t really “go” anywhere at all, it works to a higher effect here, and ironically I feel this would be a great number to drive to.

While we’re in the mood for more mellow fare, OFF THE WALL starts up with bold piano and Saori’s singing, then transforms into a song that is packed lyrically with references to the big artists of the 1970s/1980s American pop music scene. Likely a tribute to the late Michael Jackson, the instrumental is reminiscent of some of his best work and mostly funk-influenced. However, much like the previous track, OFF THE WALL is very stagnant — unlike COLLAGE, it doesn’t really make it work to any grand effect. It mysteriously lacks anything that pulls me in, yet is altogether not a bad song, just nothing I feel any particular need to seek out and listen to. Here’s a sample of the beginning along with some excellent kinetic typography accompanying it, and it even makes some (mostly correct) guesses at which artists are referenced in the lyrics. I imagine the more music-savvy people out there could probably name all of them…

Continuing in the same sleepy vein as the previous two tracks, Pray is (for lack of better words) completely boring. It begins immediately with guest vocals by Terukado that remind me strongly of Tsunku’s infamous contributions to his idol productions, which is not really a good thing. The music itself is a basic electronic ballad with only scant chords of an electric guitar to spice it up whatsoever. It’s just incredibly bland and should have probably been thrown out during the planning stages of the mini-album because, on a release with only seven songs, there’s far less room for uninspired-sounding instrumentals. The whole release suffers from having a single downright weak component. Even with regards to the lyrics, it’s nothing special: the verses look fairly identical and pertain to…basically beating the odds when the odds are against you.

The final track, Klaxon, is deceiving in its calm and minimalistic opening. Saori’s voice echoes, asking repeatedly Tell me why… prior to breaking into a rap. It’s probably the most emotion you’ll get out of her vocals. The chorus is full of claps and the instrumental as a whole feels a bit tribal, courtesy of production by G.RINA (and not Terukado!). It all constantly seems to be leading up to something, yet never truly reaches any climactic point, and I’m still not sure if it’s a disappointment for me. Lyrically it feels like a complete mess, and as with all the songs here, I struggle to make sense of what it’s about.

As revealed by Saori in an interview with bounce magazine this month, this entire mini-album was written after the earthquake in March and was sonically inspired by a previous track on WORLD WILD 2010 entitled BABY tell me (which is one of my personal favorites, but I digress). The lyrics themselves posed a challenge to her, as she has admitted in the past that she seldom writes about her own feelings because the end result is often vague and convoluted — I certainly can see that presenting itself here — and that she didn’t want to write songs that were generically uplifting and could be done by anyone. It’s unfortunate to me that production did not live up to the same expectations in some places; but interestingly enough, it seems that where it failed, the lyrics compensated in some measure. The only outright disappointment was Pray. And while I enjoy the album for what it is and respect what it was inspired by, I feel that the order of the tracks is a major issue plaguing the enjoyment of it: ideally, we’d be treated to Klaxon after BEATBOP and then go into GAMBA JAPAN and the chill portion of the mini, with an ending at Domestic domain. However, such was not the case.

I give it a total rating of 3.5/5. The strong trio of BEATBOP-GAMBA JAPAN-COLLAGE consists of the 3, and the .5 is owed to Klaxon. Previews of the rest of the tracks on D-topia’s official YouTube page. I look forward to the next release Saori has in mind, heartily recommend that everyone buys this mini-album if they’re interested (she’s gotten about zero promotion on it and she’s a rather unheard of artist as it is), and extend condolences and hopes in regards to the rebuilding of the Fukushima area and all the regions of Japan that were affected in the earthquake.

(The image above was originally one featuring Perfume alongside a rather well-known older fellow in the Perfume fan community who goes by the name of Perfume444, but I had decided to censor his identity with Nakata’s face. Unfortunately, he took umbrage with this for mysterious reasons — perhaps jealous of Nakata’s countenance? — so I replaced it.)

Anyway, let’s look at what we’re working with here. I attribute some of Perfume’s outstanding success to their distinct styles — it makes them more memorable, in a sense, if their genre and choreography wasn’t enough to distinguish them in the annals of Japanese pop music history. Women in their 20s see Perfume as fashion icons, and given the kind of money the girls are pulling in nowadays, I imagine maybe 90-100% of what they wear is fancy name brands. The Perfume members themselves seem to cover the full spectrum of women’s clothing: we have Kashiyuka who embodies a more “modern” appearance, A~chan who is known for her elegant dresses, and the boyish Nocchi who is plagued by poor styling. Just look at Nocchi’s hair. Her hair hasn’t looked good since 2006′s Electro World single; right now, it’s reminding me of the Little Lad who loves Berries & Cream Starburst sans fringe. So, much as I have good things to say about Perfume’s roles as fashionistas, I also have plenty of criticism.

First and foremost, R.I.P. Kashiyuka’s model bangs (2008-2011, featured left). They were of utmost class, even though she was rather bored of them as she stated in Himitsu no Arashi-chan, one of Arashi’s myriad TV shows, in July of 2010. By their Laser Beam/Kasuka na Kaori release in May this year, she was featured in promotional material with a small right-side part in her bangs, shocking Perfume fans throughout the globe. It seems by this point they’ve grown out quite a lot, enough to where they’re starting to remind me of her Polyrhythm hairstyle. I’m not entirely sure I like them, though! She was unique amongst her group members (especially after someone hacked Nocchi’s fringe off wholesale; they must’ve donated it towards Kashiyuka’s fabulous hairdo) and now she’s just kind of a longer-haired version of A~chan. I don’t know.

As for her outfit at the premiere, she easily fared the best out of the three of them. The black top with bow accent and white underneath contrasts well, and the skirt is absolutely adorable. The sheer print layered on the skirt keeps the whole ensemble from being too simplistic or boring, and of their outfits it works the best on Kashiyuka’s. All three sported matching white heels that bore a little glitzy flower detail on the back.

Unfortunately, A~chan’s outfit is where I start to take issue with this pattern. The bottom half of her dress is very cute and I love the black ribbon that sets it off — however, what I don’t love is the top portion. The centered row of buttons hearkens me to old American colonial styles of attire or, to put it succinctly, it just looks really outdated. Compounding this is the awkward placement of the sheer pattern; I highly dislike its presence there and it’s only highlighted by being split into two, reminding me of curtain sheers. Also can’t say I’m a fan of the transparent sleeves, either on A~chan’s or Nocchi’s outfits, I think they’re a bit too long. A~chan does, however, have a cute little white bow tied in her hair, which you can somewhat distinguish in this picture. A~chan typically benefits the most from accessories, from what I’ve seen of Perfume’s styling.

THIS BRINGS ME TO NOCCHI. Oh, lord, Nocchi. I believe that on average, Kashiyuka has the best outfits and Nocchi has the worst. I’m not implying that it’s her fault, just… Damn, it’d be nice if Perfume had equally fashionable clothes for once. I’d venture to say that everything about what Nocchi wore to the L.A. premiere is bad. The high-waisted shorts are unflattering and dated and she has A~chan Syndrome going on with the top half of her outfit, what with the centered buttoning (now in black!) making an unwelcome reappearance alongside a glut of that transparent pattern which only got put to good use on Kashiyuka’s skirt. Add the fact that there’s an excess amount of the same sheer fabric overlaying the top of Nocchi’s shorts (you can barely even see it anyway, why is it there?) and you have yourself a rather lackluster ensemble, to put it politely. And in the unlikely scenario that what she’s wearing is meant to be a romper, it’s a godawful representation of that style of clothing.

All in all, I can hardly call this a favorite look for Perfume. But, you know, at least they didn’t hit the red carpet wearing these numbers from the 61st Annual Kouhaku in 2010:

I have an about page, so I really don’t know why I bothered to make an introduction post, but whatever.