Sexy PV Week: SDN48

Today on Sexy PV Week, we're looking at a more well-known group than the past three idol groups I've reviewed. Remember SDN48? You probably have since they've only been disbanded for a year or so. I've always thought that their first single, Gagaga, was just about a near perfect debut. The song was seductively catchy and the PV was sexy without being blatant. The costumes were classy and the PV itself balanced on a perfect line of sensual and sexual. It was fanservice without looking like fanservice and overall one of the best sexy PVs from the group.

The sexy PV I'm reviewing today is not Gagaga.

But I am reviewing one of the single's B-sides! Sato e Wataru to be exact! My favorite B-side off Gagaga is actually Eros no Trigger but that doesn't reach anywhere near the amounts of sexy Sato e Wataru does. So here we are midway through Sexy PV Week, where personally I think the PVs start getting sexier and the fanservice starts getting more blatant. As for the idol group I'm reviewing today, I think any AKB48 fan at least knows about this group; new fans might be unaware of SDN48 since they've been disbanded for almost a year now. Well, before SDN48 got the management boot, they were promoted as the "older sister group" to AKB48, sort of like a hotter and sexier older sister. SDN48 was established as a more adult-oriented idol group, their name even standing for Saturday Night 48 as they performed on Saturdays at the start of the group's career. The members were all legal adults and thus allowed for more explicit and fanservice-y stages and singles.

In fact, the selling point of SDN48 was pretty much their sex appeal. Now personally, I think the concept of a "sexy" idol group can be very hit-or-miss and that was how it was with SDN48's music. With the exception of Gagaga, all of SDN48's singles are pretty polarizing. Some fans enjoy the sexy but unique image they project while others think it's way to tasteless and try-hard. Oddly enough, for an idol group based around fanservice, SDN48 has had some weird PVs. Like Min Min Min? That was a weird PVs and had the girls decked up in shiny silver cockroach outfits. Doesn't exactly scream sexy, does it? Their fourth single was featured an older man, which reminded me of a Hugh Hefner for obvious reasons. And then the group's last single before disbanding just chucked all that sexiness out the window in favor for a highly generic and vanilla peace of shit called Makeoshimi Congratulations. As you can tell, I'm not very fond of that song as a final hurrah for SDN48.

I will admit, the "sexy" style of SDN48 did get old after awhile and it didn't even seem to appeal to a lot of fans either. The group had the worst single sales out of all the AKS groups; even NMB48, who debuted after them, had better debut numbers than they did! Fans have speculated that poor sales are most likely the reason for the disbandment of the group and that is a pretty legitimate excuse for a cash-cow like AKB48 and all its sister groups. I can't say I miss SDN48 but I do acknowledge that they had a very different image from AKB48 and that was a refreshing change. Hell, I think SDN48 would have more confident rivals to AKB48 than their "official" rival group, Nogifail46. But I digress. Besides, I'm not here to speculate how and why SDN48 ended, I'm here to review a sexy PV! And a song too. But mostly a sexy PV. For those of you who have seen Sato e Wataru's PV oh boy... we'll get to that part later.

How does the actual song hold up though? Something I've always liked about SDN48 is how much more mature the vocals sound, especially on their debut single. Like Gagaga was practically oozing with vocal sensuality and I think that's mainly because the singers were older. You don't hear much of the cuter, squeakier vocals in SDN48 than you do in the other AKS groups. Like on a scale of mature to SKE48, SDN48 is pretty firmly set on the mature side. And Sato e Wataru is a pretty mature sounding song and it has pretty mature lyrics too. Okay, they're not explicit or anything but the lyrics aren't exactly singing about a rainbows-and-flowers love song that sounds like it came from a teenage girl's diary. So yeah, Sato e Wataru is a pretty sexy song both musically and lyrically. The opening chorus is extremely catchy too; I still have the notes stuck in my head along with the Engrish bits. But other than that... the rest of the song is pretty forgettable. It isn't bad, but not great either. Like I said, Sato e Wataru isn't my favorite track on the Gagaga single. Even the chorus gets kind of annoying after you hear it again and again and again.

But from what I can gather, Sato e Wataru didn't garner attention because of its musical composition. Oh no, this PV has very rightfully earned a spot on my Sexy PV Week list. Prepare you bodies viewers, for the complete and total plethora that is Sato e Wataru.

Okay, this is pretty tame, just a silhouette of the dancers. Maybe this'll be-

WELL HELLO THERE SHINY LEATHER BRA AND LEGS.

My god, only five seconds in the fanservice is already at full-force!

Even the dance is piling on the fanservice (but not as much as the close-ups).

And now they're brandishing fire-engine red whips. How are they going to top this!?

Self-groping dance move: check!

Sexy adult drink: check!

I swear I think the producers just threw a bunch of fetishes into a hat and drew several out when making this PV.

Awww, they're like a little line of showgirls- OH GOD I JUST THOUGHT OF THE MOVIE.

Fetishes, fetishes EVERYWHERE!

And more gratuitous leg shots!

Now there are girl-on-girl shots. I literally can't think of any more fanservice you can add to this PV.

Hey, what's the point of ripping those perfectly good stockings? What a waste!

I have to ask... is that lingerie even comfortable? Because it doesn't look that comfortable...

Oh my god... are those... the hats from Furisodation!?

Kyary, you perv! I can't believe you repainted and stole the hats from this PV!

I can't believe I'm saying this but the dance outfits aren't as sexy as the close-up outfits!

Okay. There are two faces in this PV in these scenes. One says "I'm ready to rock your world and take you to places you've never even fantasized about!"

And then the other says "Where the fuck are my pants?"

I'm easily impressed by this dance move. I don't know why, it just looks cool!

I feel like I'm looking at one long, three-minute Victoria's Secret commercial.

I'm serious, I half expect a caption to pop up at the end of this video saying "Buy this and more at Victoria's Secret! Sexy women not included."

I wonder how a horny teenage boy would react to this PV... on second thought, I don't want to know.

S

-insert your S&M joke here-

Okay, what is up with this girl? She looks extremely uncomfortable (almost scared) in these shots.

Oh shoot it's raining, I guess they can't finish the rest of the PV now-

OR they'll just dance in the rain! Okay then!

Gosh, the way they act in the rain, you'd think they were bathing in holy nectar or something!

I wonder if it's hard to dance in high heels on that slippery pavement...

We're sexy in the rain... just sexy in the rain! What a glorious feeling we're- okay, I'll stop now.

I'll be honest, I laughed when I finished this PV. I'm sorry, but how could you not laugh at how over-the-top sexy is!? It's completely hilarious! If there was a fanservice drinking game you could apply to watching this PV, you'd be dead from alcohol poisoning. I just... I mean, WOW that was insane. For me, there is a line when it comes to fanservice where it's blatant and just plain over-the-top. Sato e Wataru crossed the line, returned back to it, had a threesome over it and ran off into the sunset wearing a leather corset. I don't even know where to start with the fanservice in this PV; it is literally in every shot. The dance-shot has fanservice, the close-ups are fanservice, the only remotely non-fanservice shots are a few select close-ups and that's because you can only see the girls' faces in lieu of their scantily clad bodies.

Okay.... do you guys remember what I told you about the Showgirls Effect? No? Well, once upon a time back in the nineties, there was this movie called Showgirls about what else? Showgirls! It was one of the worst movies ever made with cardboard acting, strange quotes, a cliched storyline and completely over-the-top fanservice. There was so much nudity and fanservice in this movie, that if you watch the entire movie, over a while it just starts to look funny. Maybe it's the numbness of your brain formed from trying to sit through the awful acting in this movie but that's always been the case with me and fanservice. If it gets to be too much, than it starts to become hilarious. And very obviously, that was what happened with SDN48. Sure, the first few shots were very sexy and did make me a little uncomfortable since I have parents who could easily walk in and see me watching this. But the moment where one of the idols rips her stocking is when I started finding this PV hilarious. I think it's hilarious that everything is so gratuitously fanservice-y. The dancing in the rain? Had me laughing like a crazy person because of just how unrealistic it was and how clearly it was mean to pander to a certain demographic. I think that's why I find fanservice in general to be so unintentionally funny: it's unrealistic. Do you really think that all girls dress up in men's shirts and sexy stockings and spend all day writhing and posing sexily on couches? Of course not!

Naturally, not everyone is going to find the over-the-top fanservice as humorous as I found it to be. In fact, I'm certain there are people who would get uncomfortable watching a PV so smutty as this one. Sure, there's no sex because hey, SDN48 is an idol group not an AV group, but they whip out (no pun intended) every fetish and sexy object you can think of it. There's whips, leather, lingerie, men's shirts, women getting soaked, I could practically make a list of all the different types of fanservice found in Sato e Wataru's PV. And for some people, that can feel really awkward to watch. Of course, there's also a boatload of people who would love watching this PV if you know what I mean but they're probably not reading this part and just focusing on the screencap... I will say, the girls selected for this PV pull off sexiness better than some of the other SDN48 PVs I've seen where the girls try way too hard to look sexy.

Of course, since the costuming and props pretty much make up the sexiness of the PV, the girls in this PV don't have to try particularly hard. But what I think I like about Sato e Wataru is that most of the girls look pretty confident and looking confident while posing in skimpy fetishized clothing is extremely difficult. Or so I assume. But that doesn't mean there weren't a few girls who did look very uncomfortable in the PV and it's hard to enjoy fanservice when the girl using it looks extremely nervous. For the most part, all the girls in this PV do look very pretty and very sexy (again thanks to the costuming... or should I say lack of costuming). I think what really makes Sato e Wataru a sexy PV is less the girls themselves and more of the costumes and sets and props used to make this PV. I guess that's one of the many benefits of owning a series of idol groups that dominate over the Japanese music industry: expensive PVs! And yeah, there's a lot of stuff going on in this PV that I don't think would have looked anywhere near as expensive without that nice pool of money I'm certain Aki-P has somewhere in his mansion.

So overall, I will give Sato e Wataru four Perfume!Legs on my Sexy Apple Rating System. The PV is literally three minutes and fourteen second of hardcore fanservice and more fetishes that I thought couldn't even be crammed into such a short amount of time. Like I said, this PV can and will make some viewers uncomfortable but if you're searching for something sexy, Sato e Wataru's a good bet. Besides, would you rather watch SDN48 dancing in the rain or SDN48 dancing in a cage as cockroaches?