MNL48 celebrated a mile-stone this past week with the unveiling of the Music Video of their first single, “Aitakatta-Gustong Makita“. The video was uploaded in both their Facebook page and their official You Tube account. The two videos now have a huge amount of views and the You Tube likes far outnumber the dislikes, which is a positive sign for them as the release of their single slowly approaches.
https://youtu.be/-7zfQ1WTkWw
The MV marks a lot of firsts for the group: it is their first single, their first MV, and the first time anyone’s had to deal with a locally made (albeit with a Japanese director) idol music video. It has sparked renewed interest in MNL48 especially from 48 Group fans coming from Thailand and Indonesia respectively. Both of those countries have already established Japanese idol markets, with BNK48 getting an upward surge of popularity this year.
But attention didn’t come only from them: AKB48‘s Facebook account also made two posts promoting the MV too, which only added to the excitement. Being recognized by your sempai (senior) is always a thrilling moment, especially in light of what MNL48 had to go through to make it to this point.
To launch the MV, the senbatsu members performed ‘Aitakatta’ in “It’s Showtime“. Although the audio of the off-vocals was less than desirable, it had an unexpected effect of showcasing the girls’ live-singing abilities. The Philippines’ reputation of having really good singers means that a lot of international fans have an expectation that the girls’ singing abilities are higher than the norm in the 48 Group. Singing or even dancing ability has never been paramount in importance among Japanese idols, unlike their Korean counterparts. But it is good to know that the girls’ harmonization is still maintained despite all the dancing.
https://youtu.be/M6Jl5p5FLZM
Nit-picking the MV
MNL48‘s ‘Aitakatta-Gustong Makita’ MV is important and historic in the country’s Idol industry. It is the first professionally made MV of a major idol group, and all future music videos of any local J-idol group will be measured against it until the second one comes along. It is only fitting that the fans will dissect it and study its parts.
To be perfectly honest, I have never reviewed a music video before, and I am hardly an authority on music video editing so you will forgive me if I will not be going too deep into technical terms. I believe my observations are also shared by many, based on the comments in both You Tube and Facebook, as well as Stage48.
The video was shot in Manila Bay, Intramuros and Mapua University in a span of 24 hours. It was raining heavily all through-out and the shoot was interrupted by the rain at times. The senbatsu was only given a week to rehearse for this music video, although since they have previously performed the song several times, they’re covered on that regard, at least.
The music video was directed by Sho Makino, and the concept feels similar to the original Aitakkata music video of AKB48. The MV also attempts to showcase some tourist spots in the Philippines like Intramuros, and Manila Bay.
The Girls
There’s not much to nit-pick about the girls as they put on decent acting chops, and their performance is pretty good too. I think that the only thing I hear about the girls is with regards to their positions. As this single is supposed to be based on the rankings from the General Election, people were being hawk-eyes ensuring that everything is in their right place.
The issue, I guess, is with the position of Ash relative to Gabb. Ash is Rank 7 while Gabb is Rank 8, but people are saying that there were times they seemed to have “switched” positions, putting Gab in front instead of Ash. I personally can’t say for sure, because both ranks are so close to each other that there might be times when people think that Ash is purposely being shafted when it might not be the case.
On a personal level, this thing does not really bother me as much as I expected, even though Ash is basically my kami-oshi since I’m not that bothered with positions anyway. But Ash is a fan-favorite among wotas so some took notice of it.
In any case, the girls are the best part of the whole MV, specifically the dance shots.
The Effin’ Filter
Perhaps the biggest complaint regarding the video is the filter throughout, that gave it a sort of “haze“. It makes viewing it a chore and really detracts from the experience. Nobody knows why there is a filter in the first place. Some people say that it is an anti-piracy effort (I don’t know how that works, honestly), or that the proper un-filtered version will be shown when it is released on MYX. I don’t even recall the filter to be this bad when it was screened during the press launch.
Whatever the reason is, the decision to place a filter is probably the most questionable one. MVs are supposed to increase the hype, and putting a haze in it that takes some of the fun out of watching is not something you’d want to happen when you’re promoting something. As we are in the generation where High Definition is a basic requirement and the uploaded video falls flat on this regard.
The Shots
It was also pointed out to me that the camera work could have been much better. I really can’t dwell on this since my knowledge of taking good shots isn’t high enough to allow me to make a statement about it. But I do notice that for an idol video, there aren’t much close-up shots. Key close-ups are important in idol videos because you are trying to sell the group, the song, and the individual members.
Granted, many people who have never watched an idol MV wouldn’t really notice. But some fans with technical knowledge about the matter, have pointed out that there was a certain amount of expectation that they feel wasn’t met by the MV. I personally am neutral about this point simply because I don’t feel that the lack of close-ups ever really detracted from the video as it is. Sure, it can feel like “less” of an idol video and more of the standard OPM fare, but I don’t see anything really wrong with that.
The Story
The last nit-pick is that the story part wasn’t as clear as it should have. You have the center, Sheki, running for who knows why. And then you have Sela receiving a message about a guy named ‘Michael’ who is about to leave and rushed (I assume) towards the bus to say goodbye. What I don’t understand is why Abby was trying to peek at Sela’s phone, and why she also ran with Sela. I mean, it almost looked like there was a sort of “love triangle” except that Abby looked more like she had some crush on Sela. And when the pair were running past everyone, they also took notice (Michael must be one very famous dude). Then we get a shot of Sheki running in Manila bay ruining a group of girls’ shots (I’m guessing they were chasing her because of that. lol). And then, the dance part.
It is very possible that I just lack the necessary comprehension skills in deciphering an idol music video because to be honest, divining the deeper meaning of bubblegum-pop videos just isn’t my thing. Maybe it holds a deeper meaning than girls trying to catch a bus, or all that running is symbolic of someone desperately wanting to be near someone, or maybe it could just be as simple as the staff conspiring to give Sheki, Sela and Abby some extra work-out, who knows?
The Song
The translation of the original Japanese lyrics has always been a concern to fans ever since this whole project started. It seems the one handling the adaptation went for really deep tagalog words. ‘Aitakatta-Gustong Makita’ also used tagalog words that you won’t commonly hear in every-day speech, but not as much compared to “Sakura no Hanabiratachi-Talulot ng Sakura“. The song is a curious choice to be the first single because in my opinion, “Heavy Rotation” was a better and catchier track.
I would suppose that the choice of ‘Aitakatta’ rests on the assumption that since this is AKB48‘s signature song, that MNL48 might co-opt it as their way of trying to “reach out” to people. The song itself may be considered “safe”, recognizable as an AKB48 song, and fairly easy to perform.
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All said, the MV is still a decent effort. It has noticeable flaws, but I believe that these do not take away from the video’s significance and impact. A decent, if apparently “rushed” effort. The flaws are only ever really apparent if you compare it to other idol MVs especially those coming from South Korea, or if watching idol MVs is what you do 24/7.
It will all fall down to the fans themselves how they will respond to this video, whether it convinces them to buy the single, adopt a “wait and see” approach, or make up their mind regardless of the MV’s state. The video has so much views and likes now, that the fans are really feeling good about it. Let’s just hope all that good feeling translates into actual sales come August 31.
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The website also indicated that the MNL48 Fanclub App will be relaunched this August 25, 2018. This has got to be the third re-launch of the app which first went live on December 2016. It has since been patched various times owing to some system glitches as well as some candidates discovering exploits in the system.
It was re-launched along with the audition on October 2017 this time under the HHE and ABS-CBN partnership. This version was particularly infamous of its purges of “invalid” accounts. My first account was affected this way, because I originally used my Back2gaming email. The purges also affected the rankings so much that it affected the credibility in the eyes of a lot of fans, leading a number of them to rage-quit the process.
The third version of the app was created after the General Election, and featured the members and the Kenkyuusei by rank. It also has some features that are still not live, and this re-launch might have something to do with them. It would seem that these features include Theater reservations, digital purchase or streaming of the music, access to a “special” membership which seems to be paid, and a calendar of events.
Expect some update this weekend for the app.
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Only one week to go, guys. Are your wallets ready?