Hey! Say! JUMP - Your Seed/Bouken Rider review

Your Seed/Bouken Rider is Hey! Say! JUMP's 3rd single and first double A-side. Though after listening to the two songs on the cd for a while I think it probably should have been kept a single A-side as it was first solicitated out to be.

The covers probably aren't the most incredible things ever, but they aren't the usually group photo shot and it looks like they tried to be a bit creative with them. I kinda find it cute that they had a panda plush toy on the covers as their way of showing that the single is tied in to the Kung-Fu Panda movie.

Your Seed is definitely the stronger of the two songs, as well as the one that diverges the most from what HSJ has released so far. From the small preview we first got of it back when the single was first announced I thought it sounded like a song I would like and it is probably one of my favorite HSJ songs now. As it uses the lower ranges more than HSJ's other songs it doesn't sound so much like it is a song sung by young boys so much, which at first threw me off. But I think it's hardly a bad thing as the boys are growing up fast and beginning to reach the point where most voices have deepened since their debut. I think overall Your Seed is a good song to release as I noticed that haven't liked any of HSJ's previous songs say that they like Your Seed, so it's helping bringing in a new group of people that may not have enjoyed the volleyball songs of the first two singles so much.

The second A-side, Bouken Rider, is more like the typical sound that HSJ has so far. It's a light pop song and not nearly as catchy as Your Seed, IMHO. I'm sure I would not have been sold on this single much at all if Bouken Rider was released as a single itself. I think it makes a good B-side though.

The DVD is set up to be in three parts. The actual promotional video for Your Seed, viewing HSJ in their dance lessons for the PV and the making of portion of the PV.

The PV has been out for a while so I'm not going to spend too much time on it. It's dancing from the beginning to the end on the same stage, though that can be forgiven as they use a giant LED screen behind them to change the background and the dance is remarkable. As I mentioned in an earlier post I think this is the first dance that really uses the fact that there is ten members to the group to it's advantage. I don't think I could see a smaller group repeating it and having it work out so well.


Next portion has clips of the boys learning the dance moves for the PV. It actually took me the third viewing to realize that Takaki isn't with the other nine members for the dance lessons, but was on his own learning the dance moves. This is kinda explained in the making of portion as Takaki mentions that because of his work schedule he hadn't had the same amount of time to practice the dance as the rest of the group so he was finding it difficult. All of this portion is dubbed over by Your Seed so there isn't too much to say about it but I do find it a bit interesting to see them learning the dance and see some of the mistakes they make.


The making of portion is shorter than the two past HSJ singles but seems to have gone for quality over quantity as it's the most enjoyable. Even though at first I found myself indifferent to him when HSJ first debuted this making of and the one for Dreams come true has made really like Hikaru. He's easily one of the more enjoyable member of the group to watch as he's just so energetic and goofy. I found the fact that where ever he was Inoo would be nearby and vice-versa rather amusing and I think it really does prove that those two have become good friends. Yuto as a 'reporter' was cute and I might be biased because of the amount of screen time Daiki got because of it. Yuto's English was pretty fail, and I love how Keito seemed pretty interested in what he was going to try to say. Even though Takaki seemed a bit tired he also looked very happy to be with the rest of the group this time. I really felt this was too short and I hope we get a bit more with their next making of if it'll be as entertaining as this one.