Comments on: Beauty Heroine – Ourei Harada

By: Just Me Mike

Just Me Mike — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:51:56 +0000

What can I say – I like the outdoors – and far away from home is even better.
I have traveled to Asia a dozen times.

Of course having Megumi, Yoko, Rio, Ourei, Miri, Harumi or any other model playing on a beach, in a bikini can be and is repetitive. I’m just not bored by it.

The genre is restrictive so the limitations are built in and come with the territory. However, I have seen some of the so called Full Nude idol videos. And there’s not a lot of differences beyond the nudity. This particular Ourei DVD isn’t on a par with her others. My dislike isn’t because it is different, but because it isn’t as good.

By: Zatoichi

Zatoichi — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 18:02:16 +0000

The setting for the first three tracks are quite similar granted, but the others varied and pleastent enough. Recently, I’ve noticed a distinct bias in your reviews – you really seem to hate the indoors! As such, I can see why this would be a negative to you but let me ask you this: doesn’t it get boring to always see the same beach setting over and over again? Or the same bikinis? Yes, they’re iconic, but to have each and every scene at the beach or nearby? To honest, the few scens with a lot of obvious natural lighting in thsi one really hurt the quality of the scene – everything appeared quite washed out. Personally, I’m quite happy when the directors try and shoot in different locales. Now, I’m not saying that an outdoors scene or two wouldn’t have been welcome, but I didn’t find it to be that detrimental to the disc. I never see you complain when the entire DVD takes place outdoors

Also, regarding the photoshoot thing – every time they shoot a gravure idol DVD they do both. At least with Beauty Heroine, they had the good graces to relegate them to separate activities – first the video, then the photography (or vice versa), unlike some other DVDs when they attempt to do both at the same time.

By: Just Me Mike

Just Me Mike — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 17:33:34 +0000

Z – They never left the apartment. I want to see the model in something besides 4 walls and a window. Yes she does play to the camera, and yes she makes plenty of eye-contact with us viewers…but I feel it is safe to say that the producers got two things done at the same time – a photo book and a DVD. Show me some colorful furniture or a view of a forest out the window, or maybe even go down to the streets or to a city park. Don’t you think that they should at least make an attempt to place the model in an attractive setting?

JMM

By: Zatoichi

Zatoichi — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 17:19:29 +0000

While not exactly the best idol DVD around, I think this was roughly on the same level as her previous release, Ôrei Mugendai. I think the complaint about the “extended photoshoot” style is unjustified IMO – Ôrei is definately playing to the video camera and not a photographer. If you want to see photoshoots, look at the Special DVD which came with Yôko’s Ultra 5 Box or the singular waste of money that was Yamaguchi Erina’s second DVD, Great J. Here, not only is Ôrei obviously posing for the camera as well as keeping eye contact, but does so quite pleasingly.

Ôrei is at her strongest when she is posing or moving slowly… when she moves quickly, it really spoils the mood by emphasing the unnaturalness of her breasts (like the ‘Dance Dance’ track on her last DVD). While the initial tracks were mostly posing, she does become more active as the disc goes on, which is why the extended photoshoot comment is somewhat puzzling. I’d say 3.5 on the AoV scale (and 3.75 for Ôrei Mugendai for comparison’s sake).