ラストフライト☆9月22日2018

Follow the pink runway...

And here we are - the final 3 hours of PASSPO☆ week. I'm interested to see what I think of this concert 12 months later...

We open with a flight announcement and the usual silliness; Orange is sleeping like always, while Yellow and Aqua are fighting over the bathroom. This is followed by a special video package showing PASSPO☆ through the years. The music is totally new. There are people in the crowd crying already. It's totally not me...

They open with the first PASSPO☆ single - Let It Go!! Holy shit, Yellow just did jumping splits? Now they rock the 少女飛行 and this is a great time for Yellow and Purple to do some choreography using luggage as props. I'm all for it. There is also clearly a lot of emotion in their voices tonight. Things get a bit heavier with WING and I find I miss the Ground Crew for this. But Purple makes up for it by absolutely belting it out to my surprise.

Time for the final introductions and White messes up the venue name. They're wearing the Cinema Trip classic-style blue flight attendant outfits complete with custom-coloured sashes. Hold up - Aqua's colour is actually Mint Green? WTF?? Since when?!?

7's Up is always fun and this time Purple uses her solo moment to harass a cameraman. Bah gawd she's the best.

Pretty Lie starts and HOLY SHIT the crowd are losing it! I know it's a great song, but I did not realise just how much the fans love it. Then they rock くちゃLOVE and Orange actually sounds really good in this. But then she has her one moment to do a fun trick with a smoke machine and totally fucks it up by going to her left instead of her right. It probably makes it funnier.

Band PASSPO☆ time!
I was skeptical of them doing BABY JUMP〜天国への搭乗便〜 last time, but I now I totally get it as the perfect Band PASSPO☆ song. During キャンディー・ルーム, Orange and Yellow go out into the crowd. Orange has a fake lollipop and sticks near the front, but Yellow just completely disappears and is not seen for the rest of the song. Orange makes it back for マテリアル Girl, but Yellow is still nowhere to be seen. Oh wait, a cameraman has finally tracked her down near the back of the hall - so she runs away to other side of the hall. And I do mean runs.

After that, Purple asks Yellow to warn her next time she's going to do that so she can remember to wear her glasses. Then Yellow gives a quick word about how much she loves to sing and that she wants to continue to sing together with White. Spoiler alert: they did one gig together a couple of months later, but haven't done anything since. I'm not happy about it. Then Band PASSPO☆ attempt 向日葵 - I admire the ambition.

Now it's time for lucky dip song choice!
They have a box with songs written on balls and each girl picks one out.
Orange picks Go On a Highway.
Aqua Mint picks ViVi夏
Blue picks LA LA LOVE TRAIN〜恋の片道切符〜 and the crowd erupts. And this is why I would never think I like the same songs as the fanbase.
Purple picks BREAKOUT!!
White picks じゃあね.

Huh - it's all songs from the first 2 albums. Purple wants to do BREAKOUT!! as Band PASSPO☆. It's actually really fun watching and listening to them work out how to transition between each song. Especially how they sound out the music while they work.

This Band PASSPO☆ version of BREAKOUT!! is awesome and should be the standard. I can barely hear LA LA LOVE TRAIN over the Otaku and their chanting. I'm not sure I'm too upset about that.

Yellow starts 無題 accapella again and it's pretty awesome. The whole performance is actually quite powerful. 「I」and You are next and they are both very emotional performances, before they finish off the main concert portion with Tracks - which is incredibly fitting. I really like the way they've shared out Yellow-Green's parts. No lie, this was the song that got me the most tonight.

Encore time! And more Band PASSPO☆!
Aqua Mint talks about how hard they had to work to make Band PASSPO☆ a reality. She gives a shout out to Blue for learning guitar after Yellow-Green left. Then they smash out Party Like a Rockstar! and it is a lot of fun.

Now it's time for the madness that is STEP&GO; Blue still can't ride the luggage scooter and tries to kamikaze into Aqua again - luckily, Yellow makes the save. And then they finish things off with Music Navigation and pose for photos at the front of the stage. But not before White has to wake up Orange.

But we aren't done yet - 2nd encore time!
Purple discusses how hard they've worked and all the challenges they've faced and how they had to work to overcome them. Then she says she'd like to do one last Band PASSPO☆ song, so they rock 少女飛行 one more time and even lead the crowd in a big sing-along. And then the final song - of their career, I guess - is バチェロレッテは終わらない. When Aqua Mint screams one more time and the explosion happens, I get the feels every time. And the final chorus where the girls sit in a circle and sing together feels like a really special moment. I remember on the night being so shocked they hadn't performed it and then feeling so much joy that they ended with it. It's a special song and the perfect ending.

Then we fade to black and credits roll, featuring pictures of their journey throughout the last 9 years. And then finally, each girl has a message of thanks to all the passengers.

Ninjas be chopping onions on my couch, I tell ya...

Was this a perfect concert? No.
But it was a magical sendoff that celebrated the coolest band ever and the emotion was real.
Would I watch it again?
You bet your ass, I will!

Highlights:
Tracks, STEP&GO, バチェロレッテは終わらない being the surprise perfect ending

Lowlights:
No more PASSPO☆. It's obvious, but honestly a year later I still want them back


6 / 7 Glowsticks

すてんだっぷガールズ!〜第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心〜 First-Class Edition Bonus DVD

Peak PASSPO☆

Again, this is simply the すてんだっぷガールズ!〜第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心〜 music video. It involves PASSPO☆ in some sort of comic where fight monsters and then defeat the big boss monster using the combined power of their lightsticks. This was the first PASSPO☆ video I ever saw and I think it made me a fan instantly; the video concept is fun, the song is awesome, their outfits are fire and they're all super cute. I don't know how anyone could watch this and not fall in love.

Peak PASSPO☆ right here.

Highlights:
Everything I listed above and probably more.

Lowlights:
There was nothing more to come after that.

7 / 7 Glowsticks

すてんだっぷガールズ!〜第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心〜

Unemployed and ejected from the movie theatre, our heroes can no longer afford windows

This is just a single but I didn't think it fits on the Tracks compilation. Plus it's the final PASSPO☆ release and is responsible for me discovering the awesomeness that is PASSPO☆, so it deserves it's own post.

Our opening song is the title track - you know, the subject of the single - すてんだっぷガールズ!〜第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心〜. Duh! It picks up where Cinema Trip left off. It's just a blazing assault of pop-punk awesomeness that makes every day better. Each girl gets a moment to spit some cool lyrics in a fun way.

Our second song is Party Like a Rockstar! At first, I thought this was inferior, but now I realise this song is actually a different kind of badass. I get the feeling it was written specifically for Band PASSPO☆. It's super awesome.

Then we get instrumentals of both songs, which I don't totally mind because there is actually some really cool stuff going on in these songs and I need to make myself learn すてんだっぷガールズ! in full one day. The Party Like a Rockstar! instrumental is followed by PASSPO☆ talking for 10 minutes. I think Blue just watched the video for ギミギミaction 4 times and said the food looked really good. White gets them back on track to discuss the single but then Red is like 'Why is the title for this song not written in English?" I could try and recap more, but I will leave that for another day when I can focus more and my Japanese is better.

Highlights:
すてんだっぷガールズ!〜第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心〜, Party Like a Rockstar!

Lowlights:
The last release from PASSPO☆

6 / 7 Glowsticks

Cinema Trip First-Class Edition Bonus Disc

With both their airline and diner businesses failing, our heroes took up a new hobby of being rowdy at movies

So there isn't much to this at all - just the video for Playground. It's pretty great; Aqua catches a flight on PASSPO☆ Airlines, where she drifts off to sleep after watching a horror movie and being poisoned with a "Zombie Virus" drink. She has a nightmare where the other girls are all zombies and make her one of them and they dance up a storm. I'm not sure it is a good advertisement for the service you can expect on PASSPO☆ Airlines. Unless you are wanting to become a zombie? I mean, I guess it's an added bonus feature other airlines just aren't offering these days.

The dance shot version is even better because this choreography is FIRE.

With only one video on the disc, I decided to watch all the other videos from this era:

Mr. Wednesday just involves PASSPO☆ being cute - getting ready for their day and playing music and dancing.

ラブリフレイン is just Band PASSPO☆ jamming the song and dancing.

7's Up is fun video from live performance.

バチェロレッテは終わらない is another great video; it's announced on the PASSPO☆ World Evening News that White is going to get married. The other girls see this on TV so throw her a bachelorette party, which involves ridiculous gifts like baseballs bats and hula hoops. And a lot of drinking. And they shoot Aqua out of a canon. The making of this looked seriously fun.

ギミギミaction is actually the greatest music video ever. Me writing about it doesn't do any justice. But I will say Red puts on the performance of a lifetime as Purple's douchebag boyfriend causing trouble for the PASSPO☆ family at Christmas. Orange also make for a super cute dog.

So one video on that DVD really wasn't enough. They should have included all of them, because they are actually good. Well, Playground and バチェロレッテは終わらない are, and ギミギミaction is amazing.

Highlights:
Red and Yellow portraying convincing Japanese men, the choreography in Playground

Lowlights:
All this should have been on the DVD

5 / 7 Glowsticks

Cinema Trip

PASSPO☆ Airlines: Now travelling to over 6 Movie Cinemas Worldwide

And then there were 7.

It's the last day of PASSPO☆ week and we are doing a double feature of sorts. Starting with their final album, Cinema Trip. Our opening track for this is Popcorn Bought? White invites us to join them on a trip to enjoy different types of movies and then this track just rocks up a storm. I said it before and I'll say it again - these opening instrumentals just got better and better and right here was the peak.

Now we kick things off proper with Music Navigation and you know you're in store for a special time. I like that each girl gets a real solid moment. They all get even more in 7's Up - where each girl does an introduction for the next girl. Best I can tell; Orange sucks at dieting and is the oldest, Red is fire at guitar, White uses hashtags and likes games, Yellow drinks water and has muscles, Blue travels the world, Aqua looks like a child and Purple dances and is married to PASSPO☆ forever.

Playground is this gothic horror dance masterpiece, with lyrics about zombies and monsters and music that channels horror scores. It's like WING crossed with Sophie Ellis-Bextor or something. Also the dance shot video is fucking BAAAAADAAAAAASSS. Mr. Wednesday is almost the opposite vibe - it's just straight up pop fun. Like a Beef or Chicken? song without the punk-styles. It's one of those songs where you think 'meh' but then it gets going and before you know it, you're singing along and having a great time. 

ラブリフレイン is a quiet little love song, but things immediately get back to the rockin' with NASA! 〜なんであいつ好きなんだ、嗚呼〜. It's pretty darn heavy.  And so is 不屈のレジスタンス. It's almost a Yellow solo song - I don't hear much of anyone else in there at all. If they're there, Yellow is overpowering them. WEEKDAY QUEENS is a bit more back on the pop-punk fun times track. The sort of song that makes LOGMAN sign into a hairbrush around his room. マイノリティー・ヒーロー is back to the heavy shit, except this time it's Purple giving it some attitude. Then we hit ギミギミaction for one of the absolute funnest PASSPO☆ songs on the planet. Then we get フィルム which is one of the most beautiful songs they've done. I wanna say pop-punk anthem but it really is more of a pop-punk power ballad. .

And we end the album with バチェロレッテは終わらない. It's the number one song in my iTunes and in my heart.

So it goes without saying this is my favourite album. While I can admit now that Beef or Chicken? is actually a slightly stronger album (ラブリフレイン does not measure up to the rest of the album), I will also readily admit that I will always love this album more and the awesomest songs are just that bit more awesome than the awesomest songs on Beef or Chicken? JEJEJEJET!! and Beef or Chicken? both have that 1-2 punch at the end, but Cinema Trip has the triple-threat of ギミギミaction, フィルム AND バチェロレッテは終わらない. If that's not enough to make album the top of your list, then you're doomed and just let me dance on your grave again. Playground might be more suitable for that!

Highlights:
Music Navigation, 7's Up, Playground, ギミギミaction, フィルム , バチェロレッテは終わらない

Lowlights:
The last album PASSPO☆ will ever release

7 / 7 Glowsticks

日本青年館のフライト、9月9日2017

"If your beard is *this* long, you can't enter the airplane!"

This was a concert from 2 years ago that I found on the interwebs - probably from around when I first discovered PASSPO☆ (I got Cinema Trip in November 2017, but my first exposure was the すてんだっぷガールズ! music video. I think that came out around August/September 2017. It's a bit of a jump as far as my chronology goes, but it's nice to have something between the 2015 live and ラストフライト.

This concert opens with Puti Passpo.
They are NOT PASSPO☆.
Yeah, I'm not watching this nonsense...

So Yellow-Green has since gone, due to health or something. It's a shame, because she had grown on me a lot - she was a great dancer and solid singer. BUT this does mean we're down to the core 7 that make up the PASSPO☆ I know and love.

The show opens with a big spoken-word intro over the speakers. Orange keeps sleeping and there is other hilarity but my Japanese is not fast enough to catch it all. Then Popcorn Bought? kicks in and every　time the crowd join in with the big "HEY!" I get very jealous I'm not there. PASSPO☆ come out wearing the outfits from すてんだっぷガールズ! and I immediately know this will be a good live because those outfits are pure fire! Bah gawd this was peak PASSPO☆ for me.

Oh cool they're going to open with Honey Dish - just what I wanted after having to watch the music video 9 times in a row... Purple then teaches the crowd the dance for すてんだっぷガールズ! and I realise I should learn that on my next day off.

The fact that I never got one of these PASSPO☆ star-shaped lightsticks is an absolute crime and the world should be ashamed. Orange and White clearly enjoying performing 7's Up. But Purple using her solo moment to be silly with a security guard shows how she's become a dam star in this group. With the other 2 gone - and her getting older - she's certainly taking command on stage.

Band PASSPO☆ time already??
Blue is no longer pretending to be a DJ and has traded her Xylophone for guitar. And they even pull out BABY JUMP〜天国への搭乗便〜 to my surprise - I did not expect Band PASSPO☆ to be doing the heavy shit. They follow up with WANTED!!, which I did expect. Honestly, they're lucky Purple and Aqua are actually competent at drums and bass because the guitarists are not quite at Ground Crew level. They even do Love Diary, which is kinda cool. But I do miss the choreography. And then we wouldn't have to make Red attempt a guitar solo. BUT at least this means Orange plays a real whistle instead!

White gives a speech where I believe she was discussing how hard they've worked to be able to do Band PASSPO☆ - Purple points out that doesn't apply to her.

Back to just regular PASSPO☆ now and Purple is talking about their previous songs as Band PASSPO☆. I can't quite work out if she's saying she wanted to keep going as Band PASSPO☆ or she was bummed that she didn't do a song as well as she would have liked.

Time for your in-flight meals! Today's options are Beef or Chicken - get it?
So they wheel out two boards (Beef and Chicken) with 4 different songs and the audience gets to choose which they perform. Where's the Vegetarian option?? The audience can vote using the colours on their lightsticks, but Purple thinks using animal noises is more accurate and given her Cow and Chicken impression, I'm going to have to agree. The crowd are split, so the girls also vote and hilarious it is unanimously in favour of the Chicken menu. Aqua reminds the team that two of these songs require Band PASSPO☆ so they spend another 10 minutes organising the menu and labelling each song with Salad, Soup, Main and Dessert. Girls, you just said this was the "Chicken" menu - I ain't never heard of no chicken dessert!

This is a meal, so before we can partake you must wash your hands and say "いただきます”

Anyway, the result is this:

Mr. Wednesday = Salad
キャンディー・ルーム = Soup
Pretty Lie = Main
くちゃLove = Dessert

I'd actually agree.

In the funniest moment of the night, Purple starts talking about Disney but can't remember Mickey Mouse's name. Then tells the crowd they are full of it when they say they knew it.

Playground is still one of my favourite dance routines they've done. And this was possibly one of the best performances of the night! It's just the Aqua, Yellow and Purple show and they killed it. Then Yellow opens 無題 accapella and it is possibly her best vocal performance of the night. Purple nails her solo part and doesn't break into tears. Then oh shit - they're doing フィルム? And then following with バチェロレッテは終わらない? Well, that's one hell of a way to end the main concert!

Encore time! Buy their goods! I would if I could, believe me!!

Time for the madness that is always STEP&GO. This time Orange tries to lie down, so Purple sits on her. They've got luggage attached to scooters and Red goes across the stage. Then pushes Blue on it, who is not so confident and almost runs over Aqua. As soon as the song ends, they ALL fucking destroy Blue for it. Then Purple shows her how it's done by racing across the stage on the scooter and avoiding everyone.

Purple is queen.

Red announces a concert on 22nd September 2018. They're excited! That would become their final concert performance and last official act as PASSPO☆. Then they do one last performance as Band PASSPO☆- 少女飛行 - then rock the house with Music Navigation before calling it a night.

This was a really fun live. One of the reasons I love this 7 the most is that being less members, they all had a chance to show personality. And they have a lot of it! It might even be just that they've gotten older and more experienced, but whatever. I can sit here and badmouth the singing or the Band PASSPO☆ stuff, but really at least they were trying their best to do something different.

Highlights:
Playground, the luggage riding incident, Purple making cow and chicken noises

Lowlights:
No vegetarian meal option

5 / 7 Glowsticks

Beef or Chicken First-Class Edition Bonus DVD

Sitting on the tables could see you fail your hygiene grade

There's not a whole lot to this DVD; just Honey Dish. Which is an awesome song.
In this adventure, PASSPO☆ are now running an American-themed Diner. But I'm not convinced on the quality of service; Yellow burns her food, Yellow-Green can't stack pancakes and Aqua just throws popcorn everywhere. Then at night, they become Band PASSPO☆ and completely mess the place up, drink and have a rowdy time.

I'll pay double the menu price.

And then we get a solo video for each girl!

White
She's just getting ready in her bedroom. Okay. It would seem they won't be lipsyncing unless it is actually a part of the song they sing - this could be funny. I want her white tambourine.

Aqua
She's also just in her bedroom - I'm guessing that is going to be the running theme of these. She gets bored and remembers she doesn't actually sing anything in this song, so just grabs her bass and rocks out. Putting on the little girl act while posing on her bed just makes this weirdly uncomfortable.

Yellow-Green
She looks completely uninterested in this - until her one solo part comes up. Oh, and she really enjoys pretending to not play this on guitar; Honey Dish is more than just a continuous B-chord, Yellow-Green!

Purple
Her hair is now a weird shade of Orange/Pink. But she can twirl her drumsticks and rocks her diner outfit the best.

Yellow
In the least surprising moment of the evening, the girl with the most lipsyncing to do is also the least bored.

Red
She went straight for the shoes and clothes - she knows what's up. She's got nothing else going on for the next 3 minutes.

Orange
She stole White's tambourine. Is she not worth them buying an orange one??

Blue
I like that Blue wears full pink shorts instead of the white checkered skirt - she's so tall and lanky that it totally works better on her. She also folds her t-shirts well. But her storage of underwear needs improvement.

And now I'm almost sick of this song. Thanks!

Highlights:
The actual music video

Lowlights:
Watching 8 different girls do the exact same stuff to the same song for half an hour.

3 / 7 Glowsticks

Beef or Chicken?

With the airline business down, our heroes branched out into opening their own diner

So with the recent graduation of Pink, we now only have 8 girls to get the party going. How will they cope? Will they still continue to be as awesome as ever?

Our opening instrumental this time is Immigration Control it is a great energy lift. but not as much as Honey Dish. This song makes me want to skip around the house and dance on your grave. You are dead because you couldn't handle the awesome of PASSPO☆ and there was no way I was going to stop listening to them when they sound this good. See you in hell! I'll bring the PASSPO☆ CD's...

Where was I? Oh yeah, we've opened with two rockin' fun songs and いたずらRock'n'Roll has that same energy and now I'm just in full party mode. So here is Not in Theory to give me more of the heavy metal vibes from JEJEJEJET!! So we now get one of those 'seems like a slow song in vibe but is actually a pop punk anthem so get your fist in the air and rock out' kind of songs with 向日葵. It is the absolute fucking business.

So now we need to slow it down with a nice power ballad in Shiny Road. I wasn't sold on this song at first, but it's really grown on me over the past few months. And then especially after watching the concert last night. And I'm pretty sure Pink's vocals are still on here! Then we get ヘブンズバーガー which is so cutesy and silly it should be terrible, but instead it is the absolute funnest track.

はっちゃけ隊 are back! With ハイテンションエモーション（はっちゃけ隊#3）. And a bit less nonsense. But it's still the same rock dance hybrid fun times. FAKE takes us back on the heavy shit. Yellow really does like to get her 'rock chick' on. The "Hey wig out!" line is really cool. Actually, the entire chorus is really cool. There's a fair bit of Yellow-Green in here as well. Now we go from heavy to ballad and the first Band PASSPO☆ song, Perfect Sky. Again, I didn't like this all that much at first. Now I think it's a really nice song.

So from there we get another pop-punk anthem win You - which makes sense, since the last pop-punk anthem was called 「I」. This yet another kick-ass song to raise your fist and get down and wonder how you managed to live without it. Not you, I guess, because apparently you died earlier. And then we close things out with Fairy Tale, which is the perfect closer for this album. Has those power ballad vibes, still rocks but has the feels for sure. I'm going to do an acoustic cover of that, mark my words!

I read a while back where someone tried to say this was better than Cinema Trip (or more precisely, Cinema Trip wasn't quite as good a Beef or Chicken?) because Beef or Chicken? is a near perfect album. I wanted to disagree because Cinema Trip has a special place for me and I couldn't understand how anything could be better than that. But BAH GAWD this album is near perfect. Not even an average song in sight. Just 12 songs of pure joy.

PASSPO☆ just continue to get better and better.

Highlights:
Honey Dish, 向日葵, ヘブンズバーガー, You, Fairy Tale

Lowlights:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

7 / 7 Glowsticks

PASSPO☆ フライト 2015

How many red cows had to die for those dresses??

This concert was the culmination of a the celebrations for PASSPO☆'s 5th anniversary and Pink's graduation. Being New Year's Day, they decided to make this a massive event and reportedly the concert went for more than 6 hours.

6 hours!

They kicked off without the "Ground Crew" but with some pretty cute blue and red outfits. I tried to understand as much as I could during the introductions, but best I could work out is White loves playing video games, Aqua wants to rock and Yellow just shouts at everyone.

In ViVi夏！Red doesn't even try to sing her parts - she just yells at the crowd. I guess it worked for Yellow before? Now they're all holding mics instead of using headsets, Aqua seems to have tamed things down a bit. But then again, I'd pace myself as well if I had to sing and dance for SIX HOURS!

I just noticed their stage is painted like a runway leading to the drum-kit. That's very cool.

They pull out some huge medley of old songs with newer sounding backing tracks. For example, 無敵GIRL sounds way more rockin' than the original version and it makes it infinitely better. Can we replace the one on TAKE☆OFF with that? Then they slip in Go On A Highway and I'm somewhat disappointed because I would have loved to have heard this with the full band. Then they do a mashup of ハレルヤ and 晴れるよ because they're names are so similar, I guess. It kinda works.

Holy shit, they're even doing ハカナ! That song is so my jam right now, and it's about here I realise they are basically going to do their entire discography (I believe they did but not all of it made the cut for the DVD. Because SIX HOURS).

Now they're doing some sort of split - there's only 4 girls out to sing Starting Over. I'm confused as to why they didn't make this a はっちゃけ隊 part, but I just read that part of the six hours was having them open. Which would have been great fun. But wow. Anyway the other 4 come out to do Turn Around, but then I realise Yellow-Green is still out there. Gosh, what an attention seeker! Aqua and Pink team up on 夢パスポート because they are the smallest and therefore must be the cutest? They're just doing their own thing and having a lot of laughs. Fair enough. Everyone comes back out for 君色のサンバ and Pink really doesn't seem to know what she's doing. Purple is actually a very talented dancer, but instead thinks this song needs her doing the Egyptian. I approve.

I made a note here about Orange, but I can't understand what I was trying to say; the problem with drinking and trying to type while looking elsewhere. I expect more of these mysteries.

Now it's time for Band PASSPO☆！
I didn't expect it so early in the show, but then again I have no idea how long this has already been going for the crowd. I guess if you have the girls play before the Ground Crew, it won't make them look so bad? Turns out Yellow-Green was much better on guitar than Red and Blue - the band actually sound decent here! Blue even rocks the Xylophone for Shiny Road, which was quite the highlight.

Now it's time for the Ground Crew! Fuck yeah!
They are the biggest mish-mash of styles; you have 2 guitarists and a drummer that look like they've come direct from an 80's hair-metal band, a bassist that is punk AF, and then another guitarist dressed as an airline pilot!

The girls decide they finally need to change costumes into the Tracks outfits and what I thought were capes, but it turns out they were just angel wings. Should have been capes. The Ground Crew have added a massive surge of energy and everyone is just going hard now. This may well be the best version of WANTED!! I've ever heard. And before launching into ダムダムフリーダム, Pink and Aqua have a cuteness battle while the Pilot guitarist shreds up a storm.

Some dude is out to play ukulele for 妄想のハワイ and they make quite the big deal about it. I would have done it and required much less fanfare! But I also don't have a sexy white SG like him. Or can play like him...

During 無題 Purple has a total breakdown during her solo part. I can't quite tell if it's an emotional moment or she was just bummed about her singing... she redeems herself in BEAST IN YOU, which also involved live strings and is fucking badass. They're also used in Wish on a Star, which makes for a very interesting sound. Though the end was a bit of a let down. And then they pull out バスタブ complete with bubbles floating around the stage.

Aqua picks up the bass to do 向日葵 - apparently the bass was left to her by the Ground Crew's former bassist, who passed away the year before. Hence this was a very emotional performance of an already awesome song. Then we rock STEP&GO and I always enjoy the hilarity of when this song just breaks into madness; Purple and Orange decide to have a lie down on the side of stage while the others trying to dance. マテリアルGirl has similar craziness.

Pink gives a very tearful speech regarding her graduation. I was actually getting used to her being in the band! But we must bid her farewell with Tracks to end the main concert.

Encore time, and Yellow dedicates Dear My Friends to Pink, before we get Growing Up (very fitting) which makes me realise how much Pink sang in this - and her parts are cool - and then finally end the night with the first PASSPO☆ single - Let It Go!!

Dang, I was trying not to write a huge recap but I did anyway! Not hard to do when you're watching a SIX HOUR CONCERT. Sure, my version was only 4 hours, but still. Six hours, yo!

I wish I had been there.

Highlights:
The medley of older songs that had been re-recorded, 向日葵, Band PASSPO☆ being better than I expected.

Lowlights:
Not having the whole six hour show on DVD.

5 / 7 Glowsticks

TRACKS

PASSPO☆ have a store that sells records AND balloons? They're going to be bazillionaires!

It's day five of PASSPO☆ Week - and today was a confusing day for me, as it was a real battle to pick the next album to listen to. You see, the obvious choice was to go with their 5th studio album. But after some careful thought, I realised that going with the b-sides compilation I put together possibly makes more sense. The first song on it is Tracks - which was kind of the graduation song for Pink. And then tonight I'll be watching the 2015 Tokyo Dome City Hall concert, which was also Pink's graduation concert. And the majority of these b-sides are 9-member PASSPO☆. So while there will be 1 song that comes in before it should, the rest make the most sense to listen to now. Plus, I only put this together in the last few months so have listened to these songs the least, and being at work means I will get to listen to them more than I would tomorrow. I've got to try and cram in 2 Godzilla movies AND a 3 hour PASSPO☆ concert special! It's hard working being lazy...

Full Throttle! [Tracks]
This is the opener for the Tracks compilation, so I figured it worked as the correct opening track for my Tracks compilation. As I said last time, these are getting better with each album - this one rocks pretty hard and the "TAKE OFF" at the end seems a bit different to the usual.

Tracks [Tracks]
Clearly a single to serve as both promotion for the Tracks compilation AND the graduation of Pink. It's a kinda fun power-ballad and it is awesome.

燃えてろよ [Collaboration with Urbangarde]
I have no idea who Urbangarde are, but if this song is an indication of their work, then I don't care. It's like some weird arthouse dance track. Picture Lady GaGa circa-Born This Way era, but without the awesomeness.

バスタブ [Next Flight B-Side]
This is probably their purest ballad and as you would expect from something recorded during the One World sessions, it has a seriously strong 80's vibe. I could totally hear Roxette or Def Leppard doing this track. But not as great as PASSPO☆. Because my gawd this song is beautiful. Cheesy - but beautiful.

ダムダムフリーダム [WING B-Side]
Another hard rock fun track from the One World sessions. It starts off kinda weird, but the chorus is a great hook.

無題 [妄想のハワイ B-Side]
This is a fun pop-punk song. Seemed to be quite the staple of PASSPO☆ concerts.

サンキュバスディー [Truly B-Side]
And this one is even more fun. I like that I can hear some of the girls that I wouldn't normally pick out. Straight up pop-punk good times.

Cosmic You [Growing Up B-Side]
This is a little less rock and bit more dance. And for some reason the title always makes me think of Spice Girls - just because they had a song called Outer Space Girls. It makes no sense, but since when has that stopped me?

RUIN [君は僕を好きになる B-Side]
Strange how I was going in somewhat of a chronological order for a bit, but then jumped back to 2012. This is a lot darker than anything else that was on CHECK-IN. I think it could have been recorded better, but that's just me.

No.1 Boy [サクラ小町 B-Side]
This is one of those classic PASSPO☆ songs (oh shit, here we go...) where the verses are fun pop-punk but then the chorus is more electronic and dancey. The bridge is a bit more pop-punk. It slays. Whoever does the solo "賭けて" coming out of the bridge needs a hug from me (spoiler alert: it was Yellow).

Musical Party [Mr. Wednesday B-Side]
And now we'll fast-forward to 2016 briefly for the ONLY b-side during the Cinema Trip era. I remember the first time I heard this, I was like 'WTF? WME? WWF? BBQ?'. It's really very different to almost everything else in the PASSPO☆ discography - feels like a vamped up glam song (but still with heavy electric guitars, because that's what PASSPO☆ do). But now I love this number.

はっちゃけセンセーション（はっちゃけ隊#2）[Beef or Chicken? First-Class Edition Bonus Track]
The はっちゃけ隊 girls are back! More high-energy madness and nonsense that will make even a grump old jerk like me very happy.

少女飛行（結成5周年記念ver.）[Tracks]
And we close out with the closing song from the Tracks compilation - a re-recording of their biggest hit. Which is cool, because now we can get rid of Green. This version is a little rockier/better produced with a different guitar solo. I couldn't tell you which I prefer. Either way, re-recording a song that's only 2 years old feels like a totally Ayumi Hamasaki thing to do. I approve.

There are only 2 songs missing; 若者たち - a cover song they recorded for a drama or something that was only released digitally in Japan and is proving to be completely impossible for me to track down, and Blue Bird with Scott Murphy. Because it is the worst fucking PASSPO☆ song in the entire galaxy and I place all blame on Scott Murphy. Stupid fucking American that lives in Japan and plays punk music with Ellegarden and jams with PASSPO☆. Motherfucker has the life I want so I will hate him forever and go cry into my PASSPO☆ CDs.

Highlights:
Tracks, バスタブ, No.1 Boy

Lowlights:
萌えてろよ

5.5 / 7 Glowsticks

JEJEJEJET!! First-Class Bonus Disc

Does the black background mean this is "Evil" PASSPO☆?

Time to hit the bonus DVD that came with JEJEJEJET!!.
First up is a "Growing Up" documentary; this involves each of the girls going to a place that means something to the beginnings of PASSPO☆ and discussing what they were doing 3 years ago. White walks around Akihabara, Orange and Aqua go to the live houses they used to frequent, Purple went to their rehearsal room, Blue harasses some white cats, Red went to the park and found the tree they would sing under, and Yellow goes to the record company office because she's a fucking rockstar. Then they each call someone important to them and that has supported the group and say thanks. It's pretty touching.

Then we get a live performance. And one that isn't a totally ridiculous waste of time!
They open with WING and it rocks. Then we get ViVi夏 and it's a barrel of fun. This reminded me that Aqua is a little goddam firecracker and always seems to be having the funnest of times on stage. She brings the most infectious energy with the way she leaps about and gives it her everything. This continues in STEP&GO where she leads everyone from one side of the stage and back to the other, while waving her arms in the air. Aqua in the centre is always a win.

Now we get two of my least favourite PASSPO☆ songs - LA LA LOVE TRAIN〜恋の片道切符〜 and 夏空HANABI. But luckily these are followed with the live fun spectacular that is マテリアルGirl. Aqua is so great at working the crowd. And finally, we end the party with WANTED!! which features Yellow and White singing really tough vocals. Obviously, this live was a longer than is presented on the DVD, because by this point their voices are pretty much shot. BUT it totally works for their solo parts because it gives their vocals a rougher edge. I dig.

I just don't dig that it's over.

Highlights:
Aqua reminding me that she is as awesome as she is small

Lowlights:
I could do with the whole concert, thanks

5 / 7 Glowsticks

JEJEJEJET!!

♪Wanna be on top?♪

Today we open with a quick flight announcement in Ignition. This is a great fast-paced instrumental opener that sets up the vibe quite nicely. These are improving with each album. And then it's straight into the ROCK with BABY JUMP〜天国への搭乗便〜 which kicks aaaaaasss. I love their quick, strong delivery of the vocals and the "We will rock!/Baboo" break. PASSPO☆ really know how to open albums the right way. And continue them; BEAST IN YOU is another dark, heavy, awesome song.

サクラ小町 continues the vibe but includes another killer guitar hook. This song is like Yellow's coming out party - in WING, she was doing some cool big parts, but here she's really belting out the cool parts with power. The rockin' out doesn't stop, as next we get おねがい which is way more in the vein of the classic PASSPO☆ sound. Though 4 albums in now and I don't even know what that "classic PASSPO☆ sound" could possibly be, because there's all sorts of stuff going on these albums. But whatever, because STEP&GO is kinda on that similar vibe. But not really.

気分はサイコー!サイコー!サイコー! is a song I did not like at first. Now I consider it a highlight of the album and I have to stop myself from giving it a 5 star rating when I know it really isn't a 5 star song but then I realise that it doesn't matter so I give it 5 stars. Because it makes me want to party. This is the はっちゃけ隊 song #1; はっちゃけ隊 are the PASSPO☆ side group. It involves Yellow, Red, Orange and Blue drinking beer and being ridiculous. They're so bad it's amazing and it makes me happy this group seems to be continuing to perform. Especially because then songs like this won't die.

妄想のハワイ is kinda fun. Shang Shang シャンデリア seems to be incorporating some classic Asian sounds into the Idol musicverse. I'm not sure I get this song. But I certainly get キャンディー・ルーム. Super fun pop-punk to the rescue! That chorus is WAY too catchy! And Yellow doing all the silly cute voices just tops it off. くちゃLOVE is actually exactly the sort of song I consider signature PASSPO☆; pop-punk sensibilities with an almost power ballad vibe, without being a slow song at all. Do I make sense? No. PASSPO☆ break all genres and power of correct thinking.

Truly is one of those songs that starts off kinda 'meh' but then slowly builds into something more interesting than you were initially expecting. But then it's back to rockin' in your face with MASK. Wish on a Star has a great hook but also doesn't really go where you expect. Or want. Growing Up（Album ver.）, like 気分はサイコー!サイコー!サイコー!, was not something that grabbed me at first. Now it's probably my 2nd favourite song on the album. It's really groovy, but also a soulful musing of how life moves forward. The single version isn't quite as awesome as the album version - there is a chord change in the chorus that's missing in the single version. Amazing how one chord can make a large swing like that.

Growing Up is the 1 of the 1-2 punch to end the album. The 2 being 「I」. I recall a review of PASSPO☆'s final concert where they wrote 「I」could have been written for the event and they're not wrong at all; the lyrics are about chasing your dreams and staying together no matter what. The last line is especially fitting: "No one can take your place/It's my faith!" It's a fast-paced punk anthem with all the feels. This album ends with a raised fist in the air and DAAM it feels good!

This is the longest album in the PASSPO☆ library with 16 songs at 62 minutes. If you took out a couple of the lesser awesome songs like 妄想のハワイ and Shang Shang シャンデリア it would be near perfect. But as it stands, it's still a mighty fine album - I think it even has the most 5 star songs of all their albums! My first few listens didn't really grab me a whole lot, but it was possibly on my last flight to Osaka where I listened to it and finally realised I was wrong and there are too many great songs to ignore.

Highlights:

サクラ小町, キャンディー・ルーム, くちゃLOVE, Growing Up (Album ver.) , 「Ｉ」

Lowlights:

PASSPO☆ not staying together like they promised in 「Ｉ」

5.5 / 7 Glowsticks

One World First-Class Edition Bonus DVD

It was only after their airline went of business did they realise a mirrorball does not perform the same function as a globe

This disc is a collection of music videos from the album.
First up is 君は僕を好きになる. There is a kind of small story in here where the girls are meeting up with each other; first White, Pink and Aqua join up and they are very excited. Then these three run into Yellow, Purple and Yellow-Green dancing around like awesome people. They're all VERY excited to now all be together. Then at the end of the video, the group of six are walking the streets, just enjoying a beautiful day, when they are chased after by Blue, Red and Orange - who are VERY excited to see the other six. Unfortunately for them, this six are NOT happy to see the other three and run away. I really need some gifs here.

The next video is Next Flight. PASSPO☆ are next to a large plane parked in the desert while ugly white dudes rock out. Not only is the choreography in this badass, PASSPO☆ are finally wearing some flight attendant-style outfits in their music video!

夏空HANABI involves the girls dancing at a temple, interspersed with shots of them dressed like rocked up punks or something. It doesn't work for me. They look like kids playing dress up. And they shouldn't throw luggage like that - they're giving the flight industry a bad name!

Next up is WING. It starts off in a church and I'm like 'This is kinda gothic and suits the song'. Then there's those cool glitchy edits and a band wearing top-hats and I'm like 'Yeah this is surprisingly on theme!'. Then the bass player bites one of the girls and turns her into a vampire. So she bites another girl and she bites another girl and so on and so on until they're all crazy dancing singing vampires. Yeah.

And finally we have Love Diary. I like the choreography in this and the girls are clearly having fun, posing in front of a giant wave like they are fighting against being blown away.

BUT THERE'S MORE

Now we get the dance shot versions of Next Flight, 夏空HANABI and WING. It makes me appreciate the choreography for Next Flight even more. I may have rewatched it a few times.

They should do dance shot versions of all their videos. At least, they should have. Obviously, they aren't a band anymore and don't dance to these songs, so it might be a bit tricky.
Now I'm sad.

Highlights:
Next Flight being suitably badass, WING being suitably dark, Purple's reaction to being chased by Blue, Red and Orange

Lowlights:
Remembering PASSPO☆ will not be making any more music videos

4 / 7 Glowsticks

One World

It's Team Blue vs Team White in this year's World Cup Final!

PASSPO☆ are back, and this time they're they've ditched Green and are channelling some heavy 80's rock to bring you their third album, One World. Or according to iTunes, One World Economyclassban. Fuck you, Tim Apple!

Our opening instrumental today is Departure. It's a little step up from Boarding, but still pretty unmemorable.

What is memorable is our proper opening song, Next Flight. Holy shit, this song is both the heaviest and baddest song PASSPO☆ ever did - I can not listen to this song quietly. It sounds like a big stadium rock monster of a song and when I look at the personnel on this album, it becomes clear; we've got former members of Cinderella, Guns'n'Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters all over this album. I'm not complaining. It's also clear someone in the back realised that Yellow, White and Yellow-Green (seriously, that was her colour?) are the strongest singers and gave them the lead as much as possible. Again, I'm not complaining.

Don't get me wrong, I love all members of PASSPO☆ equally (kinda). But there's no denying the vocal strength of Yellow.

Final Vision is kinda something. Nothing would ever sound awesome coming after a huge heavy opener like that. Then we get Love Diary, which is still really rockin' and fun. This reminds me I need to learn more PASSPO☆ on guitar. Particularly this song. Then we're back to dark heavy rock with WING. The harmonies in this are spectacular. And it's crazy to have such sweet harmonies in such a heavy song with double-kick and tonelessly distorted guitars. I saw a clip of some Japanese rock band covering this - complete with a big fat singer dude doing some of the PASSPO☆ dance moves. I'd make fun, but fuck yeah go dudes! Because WING is badass and I wish I was in that band.

WANTED!! has grown on me over the past year; I didn't think much of it at first - likely because my first exposure was Band PASSPO☆ performing it. Again, I love everyone involved in PASSPO☆ very much, but they aren't exactly the most amazing musicians.

Ugh I want to punch myself for insulting them! Who do I think I am?!?
FUCK YOU, LOGMAN!

My favourite part of WANTED!! is the 2nd half of the 2nd verse, where Blue gets a solo part and gives it some attitude. I even think every member had a solo moment in this song! Then we get 夏空HANABI, which has some good moments. That's kind of what I find is consistent with this album; even the songs that I think are kinda average have those little moments that I think are really badass and make me want to score it higher. But I won't, because that's just one awesome moment in otherwise just "good" song. Same goes for 君は僕を好きになる - though this is a lot more catchy.

Sick of my insults, PASSPO☆ just go FUCK YOU, TIM APPLE AND LOGMAN and hit us with the best song on the album, 2DAYS. It's probably the most PASSPO☆ sounding song on the album. Like, the rest of the album isn't bad - some of it is totally awesome (dude) - but it's a lot heavier than the usual PASSPO☆ stuff I'm used to. This is back to a simpler pop-rock sound with a super catchy hook. Tap My Toe is kind of a nice slice of in-between. Then we're back to hitting some fast-paced rock with Pock☆Star - another song that is kinda 'Yeah this is good' and then has an awesome moment that makes you think 'Oh wow this song is awesome' before returning to the simply good stuff.

I'm totally saying stuff.

ピンクのパラシュート is a perfect example of funny happy pop-punk blended with Idol cheese. 君色のサンバ is something I don't really understand; you've got a samba rhythm, soft Japanese idol vocals and shredding metal guitar solos. Then we get a kind of ballad in With XXXX and I find it hard to score because I've probably been dishing out way too many 5 stars. But it's a gorgeous song. Then we close things off with Dear My Friends so you don't forget that PASSPO☆ means pop-punk good times!

This is a surprisingly consistent album; so far, it scores the lowest number of 5 star songs, but everything else sits around the 3 or 4 mark. And some are certainly high-standing 4's. And the girls are slowly starting to let some personality shine through. Like CHECK-IN, it's not the same pop-punk awesomeness I originally loved PASSPO☆ for, but this album has an attitude and 80's rock groove that appeals to me. Things are starting to come together nicely.

Highlights:
Next Flight, WING, 2DAYS

Lowlights:
PASSPO☆ aren't in my neighbourhood

5 / 7 Glowsticks

CHECK-IN First-Class Edition Bonus DVD

The "PASSPO☆ Airlines Gang" were allowed to wear their hats for their mugshots

Time for another DVD! And this time, it's actually a live performance so I don't have to just recap a bunch of music videos pointlessly.

I decided to watch the TIF 2010 performance before this. And it's lucky, because this DVD is just a 10 minute highlights package of a performance. And about 3 minutes of it are talking. So all we get is short clips of the girls 2 different songs in 2 different outfits that make NO sense at all and doing the absolute worst lip-syncing possible.

There is also an audio commentary option and it is possibly more fun. Certainly a good reminder that I should be studying Japanese a lot harder.

I opened my Tokyo Banana's for this??
Maybe music videos would have been a better option...

Highlights:
It's PASSPO☆

Lowlights:
It's not their shining moment, that's for sure.

2 / 7 Glowsticks

CHECK-IN

"Fembot Airlines now welcomes passengers boarding at Gate 10"

PASSPO☆'s 2nd album - and their "major label debut".
Which means better production, better outfits and every album from here on gets an introduction piece! For CHECK-IN, we kick-off with Boarding; a quick bit of nothingness where White introduces us to our flight on PASSPO☆ airlines and I wish I could understand more Japanese so I knew what she was saying. But that's par for the course with LOGMAN and PASSPO☆.

We get things going proper with PASSPO☆'s biggest hit, 少女飛行. I can understand why it was hit, but then I also think PASSPO☆ have many better songs. Like the next one - キス=スキ. Why didn't you love this one more, Japan? And everything else PASSPO☆ released? Then they wouldn't have disbanded and I would be going to see them live instead of doing this marathon!

Hello is kind of just about at that point of being a typical dancey-idolish song, but without being terrible and is more just fun. Street Fighter is where I'm starting to hear their individual voices a bit more. Like, I can totally pick some solo parts from White and Yellow. They're the only ones, but it's a start! Turn Around is kinda more of the same. This is the downside of a major label debut; they want more commercial stuff, so you get a few filler songs. And less pop-punk awesome. Luckily, the next song is マテリアル Girl - not a cover of the Madonna classic - and we're back to rockin' the party. And I'm back to sulking that I never got to see Band PASSPO☆ rock this out live.

ウハエ！is still pretty rockin'. I can imagine this would have all the idol otaku doing all sorts of chants. I'll never understand that. Probably because I don't know the chants so feel left out. After a bit more of the usual with Starting Over, we move back closer to the 'idol' sound with ViVi夏！except this song is actually great - an excellent example of how you blend idol pop with pop punk. So is じゃあね… , but ハカナ takes it up another notch. I actually forget about this song, which is crazy because it's one of the best on the album. PASSPO☆ are at their best when their hitting the power-pop-punk styles, and if you wanna throw in a cool dance beat to really lift the mood, then I won't stop you. So long as it turns out like this.

ROCK DA WEEK is still pretty rockin', before we slow things down a bit with See You Again. The main guitar melody line in this song is killer. And then 晴れるよ sends us home with good vibes.

I felt like I didn't have a lot to say. This is actually my least listened to PASSPO☆ album, which is really bizarre because there aren't any bad songs. It just all feels kinda... safe. The ones that are great, I tend to forget about. I need to remember this album exists more often, because while it's not a pop-punk masterpiece like their later works, overall it's pretty consistent and a great upbeat listen.

Highlights:
少女飛行, キス=スキ, マテリアル Girl, ハカナ

Lowlights:
None

4.5 / 7 Glowsticks

TAKE☆OFF First Class Edition Bonus DVD

The flight attendants graciously awaited another passenger asking for a pen to fill out their arrival card

Time for some PASSPO☆ music videos! How exciting!
Admittedly, this will be the first time I've seen them. I tend to avoid music videos, but the clips from the Cinema Trip album are all AWESOME, so perhaps, I shall give these a chance...

First up is GPP.
As mentioned in my review of TAKE☆OFF, this song is about having a pajama party with your friends. So it is completely shocking that this video is all the girls having a pajama party and singing and dancing. "Dancing" may be a bit of a stretch - it's mostly just waving hands and other gestures. And Green is in the centre for most of the video. I'm pretty sure she's the first one to graduate after the next album, so that's a massive waste. But at least all their pajamas were in their correct colours. That is a win! The more I watch this video, the more I love it - low-budget greatness! I want to have a pajama party with PASSPO☆

Let It Go!! is next and... well... I don't even know what to say about this. It's just closeups of their faces singing along, and now they've all seemed to de-age about 10 years so they look like they're in middle school. Then I remember this was in 2010 and some are still only in their early 20's today, so it's actually almost accurate. Purple was probably only 14 or 15 here and has started wearing purple glasses, which also help to make her look about 12. And I can't forget about the cartoon animals that appear for NO REASON! So gawddam hilarious.

ハレルヤ is the next video. It seems to be a collection of live clips where PASSPO☆ are not wearing anything remotely like flight attendant outfits. In fact, one of their costumes looks like a marching band or something. I don't get it. I saw a live video of PASSPO☆ from 2010 and it was just laughable and I had to stop. But now I'm thinking maybe I should be watching a live performance from each year as well, just to make this even more stupid...

サクラ色 is our last music video, and it's more of the same; PASSPO☆ singing along reflectively while sakura falls around. I don't know. It's a music video. They're super young. They're still yet to show any real personality. I know it's hiding in there! They just need to stop putting Green in the centre...

Then there is a behind the scenes making of thing for ハレルヤ which just reinforces they are still school girls. My Japanese is still pretty terrible, but my understanding is was filmed at their first One-Man Live. They were excited and even got a cake with their faces on it. Some woman who I'm assuming is their Road Manager looks like she's already sick of babysitting these kids. That cracked me up.

You've come a long way, kids.

Yeah I don't know if my writing here was worthwhile. Maybe I'll come back and add some gifs later?

Highlights:
GPP Video, Random cartoon animals in Let It Go!! video, the overall budgetness

Lowlights:
Doing live performances while wearing non-flight attendant outfits

3 / 7 Glowsticks
✈✈✈

TAKE☆OFF

The reaction when I asked the flight attendants to borrow a pen to fill in my Arrival card

PASSPO☆'s first album! What a crazy place to start, huh?

This was likely the second album from PASSPO☆ that I listened to (the first being the mighty Cinema Trip); I had been checking out some live performances on YouTube and discovered Pretty Lie, which meant I had to track down this album and hear how it sounds in its original form.

I became a fan of 7-member PASSPO☆, so I find myself wondering if I want or need these other 3. And the fact is, I couldn't tell you what they actually do in the group because in 2010 all 10 girls sound exactly the same and it doesn't sound like anyone even does any solo lines.

The album opens with Let It Go!!, a killer happy-funtimes pop-punk track. This song never fails to lift my mood or make me feel superkickass if I'm already in a good mood (reader's note: not likely. LOGMAN's a grumpy old bastard!). Then comes GPP (Girl's Pajama Party), which is more upbeat rockin' awesomeness while the girls sing about about having a sleepover and gossiping and all those other fun things teenage girls do. There's some seriously cool harmonies and shit going on in this. There's actually some solo parts, but I have NO idea who is singing what because they're all so young and sound the same. I'm going to pretend all the best parts are Yellow and White and definitely not the 3 that I don't know.

Next is Go On A Highway which is superkickass pop-punk awesome. This album is just getting better and better! Then we continue the upward trend with the balladish Pretty Lie. Legit one of my all-time favourite songs. And it's even better without idol otaku yelling all the way through it. In fact, I think this has now overtaken Ayumi Hamasaki's Out of Control for the 2nd spot in my iTunes Top 25 Most Played list. That's crazy! Right now I'm thinking 'Holy shit, how can 1 album start with 4 perfect songs in a row? Surely they can't keep this up?!?'

And I'm right, because the album immediately falls off a cliff with 無敵GIRL. I mean, it's not the worst song in the world. But that's probably because it is PASSPO☆ singing and I will give them a pass on bad songs, whereas if this were, say, Metallica I would likely be calling it the worst thing to ever happen to my ears. Because Metallica could never be PASSPO☆ no matter how hard they try. Try and rock out with a glow stick at a Metallica concert and see where that gets you!

BREAK OUT!! is next. It's kinda OK. LA LA LOVE TRAIN〜恋の片道切符〜 is kinda less OK. It's the type of song you immediately think of when someone mentions Japanese Idol music. Not me - I immediately think of BiSH giving the middle finger and screaming about beating people with baseball bats. But the average Joe that doesn't follow this type of music would likely be picturing a bunch of young Japanese girls dancing and singing to super happy dance music with lots of keyboards that sounds like it's from the mid-nineties. Again, I'd give a lesser band more shit for it. But I'm a hypocrite and my dear PASSPO☆ are mighty young here, so I'll not hold it against them.

ハレルヤ is a step back in the right direction. 夏空ダッシュ is another step up in upbeat pop-punk fun. And then 夢パスポート keeps the fun going, before サクラ色 kind of closes off the album with a bit of a ballad. I say "kind of" because it is followed by a bunch of instrumentals, depending on which version of the album you have. The instrumentals are only Let It Go!! and サクラ色 in varying degrees of stripped-ness. In all honestly, I quite enjoy the slower take on Let It Go!!. It sounds like a completely different song and isn't a bad way to send me home. I mean, I don't need 3 different versions of it, but I'll take any of them over LA LA LOVE TRAIN again.

Now let's talk about some of the other important details... like HOLY SHIT WHAT IS UP WITH THAT COVER?!?! If all I had were the Economy Class cover, I'd think 'These 10 girls fucking HATE being idols and people and don't even have a cool gimmick'. And I'd be wrong and a dick and need a beating for questioning the wonderful PASSPO☆. But seriously, they look miserable. And super young. And unimpressed. And while they have matching outfits, they don't have the pizzazz their later costumes would have. At this stage, they look like a budget airline. At least the First Class version shows the girls smiling and happy to be taking you on this flight. But I guess that's kinda what happens when you're actually flying as well...

Overall, this is a welcome start to the PASSPO☆ journey; I always get confused because the first 4 songs are SO awesome that I think of the rest of the album as being disappointing, but it's actually a fairly decent offering and a very welcoming introduction to the coolest girls on the planet.

Highlights:
Let It Go!!, GPP, Go On A Highway, Pretty Lie

Lowlights:
LA LA LOVE TRAIN〜恋の片道切符〜, the cover for the Economy Class edition

4.5 / 7 Glowsticks
✈✈✈✈🛄

PASSPO☆ Week

It's PASSPO☆ week here on the bLog!

I wanted to commemorate the anniversary of the PASSPO☆'s disbandment by doing a bit of a PASSPO☆ marathon. And then bLogging about everything. Because bLogging about a Japanese pop-punk idol group is exactly why you're here and why I get paid.

I may even include some DVD watching in all this as well! Which is why I went out and ordered all their albums in the limited editions that are no longer in print so I had to spend about double what I could have just buying their regular albums secondhand. LOGMAN plays expert level!

So unlike Kissathon and the Ryan Adams (is cancelled) marathon, I'll be spending a whole day on each album before moving on to the next. Because PASSPO☆ don't have 60 albums. They only have 6. Plus I've made a compilation of all their b-sides. So that makes 7 albums. And even then, if I were to listen to them all back-to-back that would only take ONE day of work. And that seems like I'm just half-assing this. I will only half-ass my actual employment, thank you very much!

So here is how the week is shaping up:

Monday:       TAKE☆OFF + Bonus DVD (4 Music Videos + the making of 2)
Tuesday:       CHECK-IN + Bonus DVD (possibly a live concert from 2011)
Wednesday:  One World + Bonus DVD (9 Music Videos)
Thursday:      JEJEJEJET!! + Bonus DVD (live concert from 2013 + Growing Up MV + Making of)
Friday:           Beef or Chicken? + Bonus DVD (2 Music Videos)
Saturday:      Tracks - LOGMAN's specially curated compilation of b-sides + Live in Shibuya 2015
Sunday:         Cinema Trip + すてんだっぷガールズ！～第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心～ + Last Flight Concert

The whole thing will culminate nicely with their final live concert 1 year after it took place. I had to cram Cinema Trip and すてんだっぷガールズ！～第1話 ダメダメ怪獣にご用心～ onto the same day to make it work, but I'm fine with that because I've listened to them the most.

I really do make the best use of my time...