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HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR promoting HOT LIMIT

Artist: HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR Product Code: SECL-654/2 Release Date: 2008.06.25 Genre: Rock/Pop Label: SME Records Highest Rank: #20 Format: CD, CD+DVD Limited Edition: CD+DVD version

HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR’s latest single is out, but will it be their last? On July 2, 2008, lead singer Maki (20) announced that she will be leaving HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR at the end of the year because of the marriage with DREAMS COME TRUE leader Nakamura Masato (49).

HOT LIMIT is a cover of T.M. Revolution’s HOT LIMIT. The single was believed to help boost back HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR’s popularity, but the first week’s ranking of #20 leaves it trailing far behind from reaching even top 10. Takanori (T.M. Revolution) himself appeared in the promotional video, directing the group. This cover is almost a carbon copy; from clothes, CD cover, dance movements?, almost similar setting (in the beginning of the video), the star platform…all that except the person and a bit of the lyrics.

1. HOT LIMIT

I think this song was possibly their best work they have done for the past 2 years when their popularity was slowly dying. I didn’t know it was a cover of T.M. Revolution’s song when I first watched the video. The motorcycle scene was acceptable because it made some sense. When the song came out, the motorcycle sound was still there. Why!? They just ruined a perfectly good song in 10 seconds! That makes no sense!

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Rating:

2. Kirakira Summer

Yuusuke gets a decent part on this song, he finally sings! This song reminds me of ORANGE RANGE songs like Ika Summer and O2. I didn’t like the middle where they just made Yuusuke’s voice so faint and they add a 30 second instrumental with it. That pause felt so long that it was a waste of time listening to that part.

Rating:

3. Mirror

I found this song a bit weird…There was this part where I thought Maki would continue singing, but it became a pause and then Yuusuke just pops out of nowhere and starts with the screamo for about 4-5 seconds and Maki resumes singing. Other than that, the song seems fine.

Rating:

Conclusion:

This single could’ve done better. If it’s supposed to be a cover, don’t change it drastically from the original. I don’t mind the additional Yuusuke stuff in between songs (personally, I’m used to screamo…MAXIMUM THE HORMONE helped me get used to it), but adding that motorcycle sound in the beginning of the song makes no sense (except in the video). If they used the other two songs as their A-side, I guess that the ranking would be pretty predictable since it’s no different from any other HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR songs.

Overall Rating:

CD/CD+DVD

CD Tracklist

1. HOT LIMIT
2. Kirakira Summer (キラキラSummer; Sparkling Summer)
3. Mirror (ミラー)
4. HOT LIMIT -Instrumental-

DVD Tracklist

1. HOT LIMIT

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